‘Be a Witness. Don’t Be a Defendant,” Sheriff Tells Potential Informants as Reward in Smith Killing Ups to $10,000

Smith was killed in a shootout that may have involved up to 20 shots between an undetermined amount of people on Bunnell’s South Anderson Street shortly after 10 p.m. Wednesday. The Bunnell Police Department was on the case for 24 hours before ceding it to the Sheriff’s Office, clearly overwhelmed. Barely two weeks ago, Bunnell police had arrested a man, Josiah Feimster, after a shooting spree on South Pine Street. No one was injured. The shooter is still at the county jail.

No one has been arrested in the Smith case, the sheriff said this afternoon.

The sheriff’s stepped up appeal should not be interpreted as suggesting that the case is getting cold. “We are receiving a lot of information but we know there are still people out there that may have key pieces that we would like to have. It’s not cold at all,” Staly said in an interview shortly after he issued a video statement on the agency’s Facebook page, his second in less than 24 hours. Late Thursday night, after getting information through social media and through investigative means about brewing retaliation for the killing, Staly very sternly warned against acts of vigilantism.

He was equally stern today in coaxing potential informants to law enforcement’s side, implicitly suggestion that they could otherwise end up facing charges, or stiffer charges, if they have a role in the incident and are hiding it.




“I’ve reached out to the Florida Sheriffs Association today for their Criminal Apprehension Accountability program, and they have increased their reward by $5,000,” Staly said in the video statement. He is himself a board member on the association, which created the program a year ago. “We now have a $10,000 reward available for the tipster that calls us with the information that we need to solve this case. And we know there are people in the community and people that witnessed what went on that have information. You might be scared, afraid to give it to us. You can call CrimeStoppers in Northeast Florida at 1-888-277 TIPS and remain completely anonymous and could receive a reward up to $10,000.”

But, he added, “I will tell you this. If you have information and you’re lying or you’re not telling us about it, you need to make a decision for yourself now. Do I want to be a witness and possibly receive the reward money? Or do I want to be a defendant? Our Major Case Unit is working around the clock to solve this case. We’re not leaving any stone unturned and we will arrest everyone we can that has been involved in this case. Call us with your tips now.”

The Smith killing is an added major case on the division’s plate. The Major Case Unit had been–and continues to be– heavily involved in the investigation of the shooting that left Zaire Roberts dead at a Regents Lane house in Palm Coast at the end of December.

“We have the ability to work multiple major cases at one time,” Staly said. “That’s not to say our resources aren’t strained, and we’re not spending a lot of overtime. That’s certainly the case. But what’s also made us very successful is the amount of resources that we put into these cases.” The investigation in the R-Section case, he said, “is progressing nicely.”




But Staly has been particularly visible regarding the Smith case because of its impact on the community, with reverberations at Flagler Palm Coast High School, where Smith was a student, and Bunnell Elementary, Staly said. “This is a tragedy that has impacted and affected this community, not just one family, and we would like to solve this case sooner than later. This is just one of the mechanisms we’re using for that.”

“We know that sometimes the opportunity for money talks, and so we just wanted to leverage that.”

A Martin Luther King motorcade parade was scheduled for Saturday. That parade has now been cancelled, City Manager Alvin Jackson confirmed this evening, but the prayer breakfast that had been scheduled as the kick-off to the parade, at the Carver Center in Bunnell, will still take place. “We do have extra deputies assigned, and my understanding from Chief Snead is that he’s done that also with the Bunnell Police Department, I spoke to him earlier today,” Staly said.