Ka’Juan Arthur Harris, 18, of 59 White Star Drive in Palm Coast, and Preston Harris, 21, who has no known address, were jailed overnight at the Flagler County jail on charges of armed robbery and resisting arrest after three men reported being robbed at gunpoint and beaten on State Road 100 near Belle Terre Parkway late Saturday night.
The robbery and ensuing chase and car crash required the response of paramedics who had been engaged in a fully involved house fire in Grand Haven at the same time, spreading the county’s first responders thin: at one point, most of the county’s ambulances and fire engines were responding to one incident or another, with a third incident–a vehicle crash on Seminole Woods Boulevard–also pulling personnel.
The fire, at 44 Jasmine Lane, involved an unoccupied residence. No one was injured, and “it looks accidental, not suspicious in any way,” Palm Coast Fire Chief Mike Beadle said, but the house was “a total loss.”
Around 11 p.m. Saturday, three people–a Palm Coast resident and two Bunnell residents–were walking west along Stare Road 100 near Walgreens when a blue SUV van pulled up alongside them. Three men sprang from the vehicle and ran over to them. Two of the men were holding guns.
According to arrest reports, the two men proceeded to attack the victims, hitting two of them with their guns before robbing them of cell phones, wallets and pants. One of the men they attacked had a cut at the bottom of his jaw, the other was hit in the back of the head. The third victim is 17. In all, the robbers took a little over $400 and three cell phones. The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office is withholding the victims’ identity for now.
The suspects then got back into the van and fled north on Belle Terre Parkway. The victims, who spoke with deputies at Walgreens, provided a description of the car to deputies, who rapidly located it in the area of Victoria Plaza. A deputy ran the vehicle’s license plate through databases. It turned up stolen. As the van left Victoria Plaza, a deputy followed it and attempted to make a felony stop as the van made a left on Pine Lakes Parkway. At that point, with the deputy’s emergency lights flashing, the SUV started fleeing.
The deputy pursued the vehicle until it crashed in the woods at Pine Lakes Parkway and While Mill, taking down the street sign there with it.
The men, who included a juvenile, fled on foot. Deputies set up a perimeter in the neighborhood and summoned a K-9 unit. Volusia County’s Air One helicopter was called in to help with the search. Soon deputies on the ground located Ka’Juan Harris, the 18 year old, along with the juvenile in the trio, hiding in the woods. Air One located Preston Harris, with a K-9 helping at ground level. Both men were handcuffed and placed in sheriff’s cruisers.
The robbery victims were brought to the scene and were able to identify the alleged robbers, along with the Nissan SUV. The stolen cell phones were on the floorboard of the SUV. A silver firearm was located in the passenger side door of the car. One of the suspects had one of the victims’ wallet.
Deputy George Hristakopoulos, formerly of the Bunnell Police Department, was at the scene, and said, according to the men’s arrest reports, “he has personal knowledge that Ka’Juan Harris AKA Lil Grove, is a member of the local hybrid criminal street gang, ‘Grove Street.'”
The alleged Grove Street gang was in the news in January following the arrest of three men involved in an armed burglary on Pine Brook Lane in Palm Coast. The gang also allegedly cut a video on the streets of Palm Coast. See below.
“Because the incident involved at least one suspect who is reportedly a local gang member, I redacted the names of the victims until I can confirm whether or not the judge found that the release of that information prior to trial would jeopardize the safety of a victim,” Bob Weber, a sheriff’s spokesman, explained.
It is not clear, Weber said, what happened to the juvenile arrested Saturday night.
Ka’Juan Harris faces a charge of possessing a firearm as a convicted felon, a charge of armed robbery with a deadly weapon, and a charge of resisting arrest. He is being held at the Flagler County jail on $25,500 bond. Preston Harris was charged with armed robbery and resisting arrest, and is being held on $20,500 bond.
The two adult suspects were first taken to Florida Hospital Flagler, where they were cleared for booking at the jail.
The Grove Street video:
The Truth says
These lives are destined for disappointment if these boys don’t turn around now. The Pine Grove gang could be a far more productive group if they would focus their talents and energy on something positive instead of dancing with guns and their pants handing to their ankles. I am sure all of these boys have talents they never knew they had. They all have potential and I firmly believe that. This all starts with parenting and I hope that every one of these boys moves away from this affiliation and turns their life into something worth living for.
Anon says
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA real gangs. That’s funny
laura says
That’s what you get advertising in NEW YORK to come to PALM COAST!!! RIFF-RAFF!!!!!!
Brian says
This area produces plenty of riff-raff on its own.
KT says
Laura…smh. these kids are not from up North and I bet neither were their parents. If you listened to the video…they are clearly born and raised here in the South…listen to their accents…very southern..if is wasn’t for Northerners coming to this one horse town…this town would have NO economy!!
laura says
oh….I hope the parent’s of the girl in the video so something with her QUICK!!
aaliyah says
THEYRE FROM FLORIDA AS U SAW AT THE END NOT NEW YORK!
m&m says
It looks like another example of being home schooled..
Reasonable America says
These thugs need to change their life around and find that violence will only get them into trouble, as with the three arrested in this armed robbery. They clearly have no regard for the law and someone is going to get hurt if they continue like this.
Kudos to the first responders who found them and put them where they belong. Hopefully the courts punish them with the fullest extent allowable by law. Someone could have been killed.
John says
Why? Homeschooling is not the problem. It’s how people are using it as an excuse. Take the other end and see all the homeschoolers in college, dual enrolling, and getting an education.
Ashley says
Stick a fork in it….Palm Coast is done.
Tina says
I agree Palm Coast has gotten to be little Havana. It’s scary just let my kids go out in the area. They need to weed these people out.
Biker says
Kudos to our road deputies on a great arrests.But what is our nonlawenforcement/attorney sheriff’s plan to deal with the gang nonsense in this county? We need real plans and real law enforcement experience to deal with the gang issues.
jennifer Lopez says
thank you
NortonSmitty says
The video is cute, but before you shout to the 305, I moved up here from Liberty City. The boys down there make you look like Justin Bieber with a spray tan. Peace.
Out of Curiosity says
That almost made me spit out my coffee! Thanks for the laugh.
Lin says
Wow scary
And the video also scary
Convicted felon, gangs?
How about assault with a deadly weapon?
Joseph says
Now I’ve seen it all!!!
are you kidding me?? Fake shit!!
walking around the block acting cool showing faces on YouTube.. Really!?!…
wow I hope the local authorities catch all these dumbass asses.
PC resident says
Really with this video? I know some people joke bacause some trash has moved into the P-section but these idiots are rapping about the projects and ghetto with beautiful houses in the backround? They were obviously not raised in a “real ghetto or project” because Palm Coast is not that. I’ve said mysekf it’s gone down hill but really compared to other places it’s not bad… These bunch of fools just made a joke out of themselves with this stupid video…
Michael Reynolds says
You have to be kidding!! This video should be shown to all parents in Palm Coast and Bunnell and see if they recognize their children. People need to take even small town gangs seriously. Our niece was killed by gang members in Jax Beach. I think it is time to move out of this crazy town.
Anon says
I remember people calling them wannabes.
Anonymous says
WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO OUR PALM COAST ?
Anon says
These boys aren’t horrible people, but everyone makes a couple bad choices in life.
Bill says
They are horrible people!!! decent people do not rob and beat others at gun point! those are not bad choices they are crimes!
Outsider says
Didn’t these guys get the memo? There are no gangs in Palm Coast. I think Obama’s drone strike on U.S. citizens program could have some beneficial effects here. Seriously, do you anti-gun types get it now WHY we carry concealed firearms? I shop at Publix and Walgreen’s all the time, and this is why.
Msbcarter says
Moving to the villages…
Ray Thorne says
70 year olds are having sex in the streets there….lol
NortonSmitty says
And you have to be initiated into the club. They make you go steal all the sugar packets from a Denny’s.
Anonymous says
They’re getting way more brazen than that; they’re actually taking the salt and pepper shakers.
A.S.F. says
How stupid do you have to be to make a video like this and post it for everyone, including the police, to see? Do they think it’s going to get them a spot on “America’s Got Talent?”: Do they think it makes them bad asses or will help give them some kind of rep that will make others fear and respect them? Is it made for the purpose of increasing their “cred” among other gangs in the area? Enjoy your MON-EHH, when you use it in the prison commissary. (Of course, these are the type of idiots who believe that they will still be able to run their “criminal empires” from inside jail.) Or when your folks have to use the MON-EHH to be buy a coffin and grave to bury you in. What a sad waste of youthful lives (and talent.)
Watchdog says
Hey not to worry citizens. The beautiful Belle Terre Pkwy median was undamaged.
laura says
Oh well Thank God then….LOL!!!
Binkey says
This video has been out for awhile (months). I’m sure the FCSD used it to identify members of the gang. They want to catch leaders not the little guys. I bet FCSD shared with the schools too. Notice the gang colors camouflage.
Jack jones says
Mannnn how can you be gangsta from Palm Coast hahaha.
The Geode says
LOL. And to think. Everybody calls “Bunnell” the bane of Flagler county….
Anita says
This is truly sad. I retired and moved out of Newark, NJ for a better quality of life and now it looks like Palm Coast is heading in the same direction as Newark and all major metropolitan. The Council wants to make Palm Coast a big city. Well be forewarned big city brings big headaches, specifically CRIME and undesireables moving into our neighborhoods. Just take a look at the Sheriff’s Daily Logs. Things that rarely happened in PC are becoming the new normal-stolen cars, assaults like these…
ANONYMOUSAY says
Hey Laura, guess what grove street are all southerners!
jennifer Lopez says
no they aren’t
Ex. Palm Coust Resident says
Making a video do not make you a gang member!!! I guess all the videos now days are gang related. I’m sure some of these young men are now doing something more productive now it said 2013 it was made……. Bad decision on making this hood video I agree with the other person .Some of these young men have talent that can be used wisely. There should be more stuff around there for youth to do!!!! That don’t mean everyone are criminals. NEVER JUDGE A BOOK BY THE COVER,YOU MUST OPEN IT.
CMA says
Where is the NAACP and other Black Organizations to educate these lost souls? Where is the leadership that will step up and guide these young black men from a life of crime and jail?
Seminole Pride says
Is this for real. You people are a joke. What a waste of the youth. Cut this gang crap out, and grow up get an education, and become productive men and women. Take your energy and talent and do something positive with it. Make your race proud of who you are. You people are an embarrassment to my race..
T says
NOT EVERYONE FROM NY IS A GANG MEMBER! IGNORANT PEOPLE! -.-
w.ryan says
Anon…Any wannabe with a gun is deadly.
Retired FF says
Ok so we have two thugs that have been arrested one of them a prior felon and the bail is only set at that small amount. I can’t wait to see the slap on the wrist the judicial system will give them for their crimes. Something really needs to change in this country!
Marc says
The same cop is in all of articles on here and the journal lol I cant miss that name its so long
jennifer Lopez says
yeah, he is one of the best right now !
The Truth says
To those of you claiming these are fake gangs, understand that in this country with how easy it is to get a firearm you should take all ‘fake gangs’ just as serious. They’re intent on becoming a ‘real gang’ and want to be noticed. Unfortunately, this leads to them doing things out of desperation. I hope this gang doesn’t become anything serious, but based on that video they are armed which to me shows enough right there.
Great work to the FCSO and I hope these boys are monitored closely. I also hope their parents step up and become parents and lead them down a better path. They all seem very young and are on track to waste away their lives.
Local says
Where did these “people” come from? Palm Coast used to be a nice quiet town. Then all of a sudden an influx of criminals. Can anybody explain this to me?
Ray Thorne says
Palatka
NortonSmitty says
It’s very simple. You can rent a nice three bedroom house with a two car garage, screened in Lanai and send your kids to a good school for less than $800 a month. A run down shithole in Holly Hill will cost about the same. So which would you choose? People are not stupid.
For this we can thank the local Realtors (TM) who sold houses in the newer sections of Palm Coast three or four or more at a time to middle class “speculators” as slam dunk investments. So if they managed to hang on to them, they rent them for whatever they can to whoever they can. If they were foreclosed on, they were bundled, commodified and sold to the same investors who got burnt on the Mortgage commodities. Either of the two are not good indicators for rising property values here in New Jersey with Rattlesnakes.
But even this is now coming apart at the seams and will be a big contributor to the next big bubble burst, which will happen any day now.
John E. Cochran says
Calling Palm Coast “Little Havana” is a joke just as much as their gang is. It just goes to show that Palm Coast needs to address the issue from a different approach. You have an increasing number of youth in the area & a limited number of resources for them to use their time constructively. Sure, spending money on renovations is good for the area but what good is that going to do if no one wants to move here? Not every kid here wants to be an athlete & there’s a limited number of available jobs here. Palm Coast isn’t as much of a retirement home as it used to be. The only recreational activities the town provides outside of the ones provided by schools are the parks & the beach. It’s a known fact when the youth gets bored, they get mischievous & we all see what that produces. Perhaps spending some of the funds they get from those red light cameras should be used to create something that all the youth of the area can use – PC is one of the fastest growing cities in the US & is doing a terrible job with keeping up with the expansion. Art studios, mentoring programs, arcades, lounges, the list goes on of what could be built here to occupy idle minds… BUT THEY KEEP BUILDING MCDONALDS EVERYWHERE!
Ray Thorne says
Just wondering how you would explain all the juvenile crime in cities where things for them to do is abundant. That argument is getting old and really isn’t the issue. Peer pressure, immaturity, the need to fit in, in many cases lack of the family unit, medicating them for what is deemed a behavioral problems etc..No one to step in and call time out before its too late.
Ray Thorne says
not to mention the glorification of the thugs life..
laura says
Outsourcing Palm Coast is the problem….I was here when there were dirt roads….no one knew about life as I knew it until….the real estate people got greedy and now here are the results…..we need a new jail…
Rick says
“I also hope their parents step up and become parents…..”
The Truth, do you really think any of these youths have ‘parents’ on the homefront? There in lies half the problems with youth, no constructive leadership.
Genie says
Palm Coast, we hardly knew you before you turned into once giant cesspool…
Jeff says
And this is exactly why there are so many of us who are armed for defense. I refuse to be a willing victim.
Flame away!
Carl says
This is why Trayvon Martin was profiled, everyday in news Journal you have young black males arrested for home invasions and car jackings, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson instead of wasting time crying racism , need to tour schools, get through to these young black males that they can actually be the president of the United States…. instead of trying to incite riots . Our city counsel destroyed Palm Coast and people`s property values when they let section 8`s move into houses , they used to be confined to duplexes , now we have drug dealers in every neighborhood.
Anonymous says
Well said!
A.S.F. says
One thing I learned from working with gang members back in the 1980’s when there was a prison diversionary program….A lot of the young guys I saw (and, believe me, they were only coming in because it was a condition of their probation) told me that they dealt drugs for money and asked me, How much you makin’ cause I made 5 thou last night. You think I can make that at Mickey D’s?” Digging a little deeper, what I found was that many of the drug dealers (especially the young drug “runners”) had parents who were addicts. They had zero compassion or respect for anybody, including themselves. It was very sad. The only leverage I had, in some cases, was that some of them had (multiple) girlfriends and those girlfriends had babies. They took pride in being able to buy shoes and stuff for their kids. When I would ask them whether they thought their kids might not need a LIVING father to turn as they grew up (which many of these clients didn’t have), the response was usually, “If I die, I die.” Tragic…and, obviously, things haven’t changed much.
shark says
Thank God for stand your ground!!!!!
Scumcatcher says
Someone wrote that these boys “aren’t horrible people”. I disagree, they are
HORRIBLE people. Stolen car, armed robbery, running from police??
Yeah! Horrible. Now, as far as the victims? 17 yr olds out at 11pm.
How many ways can you say—drug deal gone bad??
Miesha says
Its crazy how people can judge a situation they know NOTHING about. The crime itself was bad, no doubt about that! However, Its not fair to judge the people you see in this video. Dont take one or two people’s actions and apply it to everyone in the group when it only pertains to a few. The purpose of this video may have been to recognize the “grove street” group, but at the end of the day, this video is no different from any other rap videos seen on tv today. For entertainment purposes only. My point being, hold the people who did this specific crime accountable for their actions, but dont drag everyone else through the mud in process.
Ray Thorne says
If you think that those in the video are the only ones in this Grove Street group you are mistaken. They are responsible for numerous crimes in this county.
Bill says
Its not crazy to judge people by who they associate with! If one associates with gang members like this they are and should be judged as no better then those criminals
Dinkus says
Looks like Grandma’s house in the video. Hi Grandma!
steveg says
$20,000 BOND FOR ARMED ROBBERY? Yeah what a joke, this country doesnt take crime serious! The biggest crime is our justice system!
NortonSmitty says
Look, knowing we live in the Bullshit Capital of the World, I hope all of you show the utmost skepticism to myself or anyone else posting about their past Studly Exploits. But I’m going to do it here anyway. Even though I am not quite yet officially certified as an Old Fart which will purge me of the last vestiges of the limiting Fear of Looking Foolish. And as Tom Waits said, “I’ll tell you all my secrets, but I lie about my past…” I am still going to go out on a limb here and think I may have something relevant concerning the young men in this conversation. Or maybe not, but here goes:
As I mentioned before, I lived in Miami for about 15 years starting in about 1990. I know now I was there to get my Post-Traumatic Post-Graduate degree, or as I refer to it now, the Snort-a-Thon and Ejac-O-Rama Tour. As the VA shrink later told me, I was looking for somebody to kill me. Well no shit, but if I didn’t see it coming or it came cheap, then my life really wasn’t worth much, validating popular opinion. Including mine. But I took it to the other extreme and somehow got very good at… well, being… insane is the only word for it. Beautifully, wonderfully, defensively and most aggressively Insane. I an not stretching to say Legendarily so. And we all know Miami is the Big Leagues. And I was Mickey Mantle.
So one day I hired my girlfriends’ 17 tear old son, a senior at North Miami High to help me on a job. At lunchtime, we went to a bar I loafed at that had great lunches. A friend of mine joined us and started talking about one of my recent conquests over a large Black guy that ended with me brushing his teeth with a big wooden scrub brush on the mop bucket he ended up laying next to, and then bitch-slapping his buddy who had White Power tattooed on his chest. Just for being inconsistent, not for the bottle he broke over my head. But I digress…
As we were laughing about it, (!) the kid spoke up and said “What are you talking about, everybody knows a White guy could never beat up a Black Guy!” Huh? He was sure of it. He grew up in North Miami as a minority in his school. Grew up watching Rap Videos, Thug Life, movies and lore, all while being thoroughly intimidated every day of his life. He had no doubt, even with witnesses, that this was not possible. Think of that.
These P-Section boys grew up like that too. Getting used to being scared of. Never challenged. Is it any wonder they think they are invincible? Pushing against anybody who might say no to them in an escalating show of force until finally they really hurt or even kill someone or someone puts a bullet into them. And they would be shocked at either, because it never happened this way before.
When I moved to Miami in ’90, I used to tell the story about in 89′ the FBI called to get the crime stats for Pittsburgh. Murders? 56. No, not last month, how many murders did you have in the 1.5 million population of Pittsburgh last year? Fifty-six, which is less than an average weekend in Miami. Why?
Easy. In the ‘Burgh, you could be the biggest, baddest guy in town. But you treated the little half witted guy with a certain amount of respect. Because if you didn’t, you were going to have to go outside and fight him, because you knew he wasn’t going to take any shit. If you got in a guy’s face in in Miami, they back down over and over. Until you got a reputation and people would say “Stay away, that guy’s crazy!”. So you do it again and again. You get to enjoy the power. Until somebody dies at your hand or finally puts a bullet in you.
These P-Section kids have never been spanked, never had a teacher paddle them, never been called out on a playground, never had their ass kicked in a fair fight. They know no limits. They have no doubt whatsoever that they are special. And now that they are adults, their arrest and pictures in the paper are validation of their bad-assed specialness.
I believe it’s too late to save more than one or two of them. I hope I’m wrong, but that’s the way I’d bet.
And I hope all of you will forgive me for prattling on about my past. It’s funny the sick shit you somehow get to be proud of once you turn into a big fat old pussy like me.
ryan says
I hope everyone sees what the real problem is now. The whole thug life scene is very bad. It also encourages dog fighting and drug dealing. These kids are the problem. Not guns or pit bulls, but gangs.
Seminole Pride says
What do you mean there’s nothing for the youth to do in Palm Coast ? What resources do we need ? You have to look at where you live, and Florida has plenty to offer if you just start living the Florida life style I am so tired of these kids saying there is nothing to do around here. Well have you ever tried fishing, surfing, paddle board, golf, tennis, bicycling, hiking, or volunteering. If you are going to live in Florida, then act like a Floridian.
Tom C says
Bet they are on a number of Federal and State assistance programs.
Stand my ground says
We need Zimmerman in Flagler county.
Carl says
No weed need parents to get into drug and alcohol programs , and take care of their kids, teach them right from wrong, feed and clothe them , stop thew cycle of the pop out kids get on assistance, sell and use drugs, they`ve been doing it for decades now.
Anonymous says
It’s easy to blame northerners. Easy to laugh and call these young people “wannabees”. ( Probably not so funny to the people who were beaten and robbed). It’s so much easier to choose to be blind and cast blame. Blame those other, bad kids, definitely blame the parents. It takes more effort to look at the deeper socio-economic issue like ASF pointed out indirectly. America has an excess of employable workers with no meaningful work for them to do. That did not come about due to poor parenting, that happened because of corporate greed and powerful lobbying while American citizens chose blindness. This state of our economy is our problem to fix. Build bigger jails and they will certainly be filled, but without tax revenue from jobs and a thriving economy who will pay for bigger jails and the ongoing sustenance of them?