In a major break in two related murder cases, Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly today announced the arrests of three of four individuals in the shooting deaths earlier this year of Noah Smith and Keymarion Hall, both 16, both in South Bunnell, both in drivebys resulting from a simmering feud between wannabe gangs in Bunnell and Palm Coast.
Palm Coast Crime
Another Unprovoked Attack at a Local Business Lands 35-Year-Old Palm Coast Man in Jail
Dustin M. Patrick, a 35-year-old resident of Breeze Hill Lane in Palm Coast, was booked at the Flagler County jail on a felony child abuse charge after allegedly attacking a teen employee Friday at Red Crab in Palm Coast. It was the second unprovoked attack by a stranger against another in six days at different Palm Coast businesses, in front of others.
Stand-Off With Armed Individual Ends Near 8-Hour Mark With Arrest
What started as a potential domestic violence situation at 6 Welling Place in Palm Coast in mid-afternoon today turned into a nearly 8-hour stand-off between 51-year-old Mark Francioni, who had barricaded himself in his house, with firearms, and the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office’s Crisis Negotiating Team.
77-Year-Old Patient Beaten and Choked to Death at Assisted Living Facility in Palm Coast
A 77-year-old woman who’d been a patient at Gold Choice Assisted Living and Memory Care in Palm Coast was beaten and choked to death by another patient overnight, and was only discovered by a staffer during rounds early this morning.
Smoke and Ash from Development’s Burn Pile Near FPC Clouds School’s Hosting of District Track Championship
On Monday and Tuesday, the burning of cleared woods on State Road 100 near Wawa, for a future self-storage facility and a shopping mall, produced enough smoke and ash to cause concern on the nearby campus of Flagler Palm Coast High School as track athletes on Monday trained through the smoke, and on Tuesday had to compete through it as FPC hosted nine schools in the district track and field championships. The conditions produced a poorer image of of Palm Coast to visiting athletes and families than the district wished.
Man and Woman Are Shot At in Reported Drive-By on I-95 Near Matanzas Woods Parkway
A man and a woman were reported shot at and one of them wounded in an apparent drive-by on I-95 near Matanzas Woods Parkway in Palm Coast late Saturday night. The man was taken to a hospital as a trauma alert. The woman was treated and released at the scene.
Imprisoned 4 Times in 16 Years, Palm Coast Man Faces 10 New Charges After Traffic Stop and Chase
Kevin Spearmon, 37, of Palm Coast, spent seven of the last 16 years in prison in four different stints mostly for two type of charges: drug possession or trafficking, and fleeing cops. He added more similar charges after fleeing cops and a brief chase Friday evening.
Jamey “JuJu” Bennett, 19, Is Shot and Killed in Altercation Off Old Kings Road in Palm Coast
Early this morning, Jamey Jahiem Bennett, 19, a former student at Flagler Palm Coast High School, was shot and killed in the area of StorQuest Express, the self-storage facility off Old Kings Road North, just past Palm Harbor Parkway. Bennett is the third young Black man shot and killed in five weeks in Palm Coast and Bunnell.
Sheriff Confirms Zaire Roberts, 23, Was Killed in Regent Lane Shootout, and Another Man Wounded
The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office today confirmed what it had not for several days after the Dec. 29 shooting that left a man dead and another wounded at 8 Regent Lane in Palm Coast: that the man who was killed was 23-year-old Zaire Roberts, who had been released from prison just weeks earlier.
Crime Dropped By Half in Staly’s 1st Term, Giving Flagler 4th-Lowest Rate Among Florida Counties of 100,000 or More
Flagler County’s crime rate in 2020 fell for the 11th straight year, though it’s never fallen as sharply as it has in the last three, when it fell by half since 2017. In 2020, Flagler had the fourth-lowest crime rate in the state for counties of 100,000 or more people, aided in part by the pandemic.