Stabbings and Shooting Land Man and Woman in Jail in Bizarre Toaster of Conflict in Mondex

Kumpf called 911 Tuesday afternoon to say he’d been shot in the arm. He later told deputies that Dameron had shot him and Beard had stabbed him–twice, once with a pen, the second time with a drill. He was taken to Halifax hospital in Daytona Beach for treatment.

Kumpf and his girlfriend have campers on the same property but sometimes cohabitate in the same one. The series of events had started Wednesday night  when they got into an argument when she allegedly smacked him and he threw a drink on her. Then next day he went to her to fix her car. She got upset and according to him, stabbed him with a pen. When he again returned to her camper to retrieve a toaster, she allegedly “charged” him, struck him in the face and stabbed him with a drill bit in the upper arm. He slapped her in retaliation.

Beard didn’t dispute the account, according to her arrest report, but described her behavior as self-defense. When Kumpf again went to her trailer to retrieve the toaster, the man he only knew as Dwayne met him out front and warned him not to go further. Kumpf told him all he wanted was his toaster, which Beard had apparently set out on a fence post. The two men then started arguing heatedly. Dameron lifted his shirt allegedly to display a silver handgun. (Dameron faced a felony charge last year but it was not prosecuted, so his right to own a gun was not withdrawn.)

Dameron then picked up the toaster and threw it at Kumpf’s feet, causing Kumpf to kick Dameron’s pick-up truck. At that point, Dameron allegedly pulled the gun and fired. hitting him in the left arm.

But Dameron was apparently immediately apologetic, telling Kumpf that all he intended to do was fire a warning shot, and he provided him first aid. He told him he’d help Kumpf to his camper. Kumpf at first was reluctant, worried that Dameron would kill him. But once Dameron gave the gun to Beard, Kumpf complied, because he doesn’t like to go to doctors. Dameron asked him not to call the cops. Kumpf was sympathetic. Dameron cared for Kumpf’s elderly mother. Dameron promised to take care of him and offered him a vehicle. Dameron dressed his wound. But it didn’t staunch the bleeding, which worried Dameron, so he called 911.

Beard, who voluntarily reported to the State Attorney’s Office for an interview, said she heard what sounded like a gunshot but didn’t see it, and saw the gun on the ground. She also contacted law enforcement at the time of the incident. She told detectives that Dameron told her he intended to burn the clothes he wore during the incident, and that, as he described it, he’d shot at the ground  near Kumpf, but the bullet ricocheted and struck him.

On Wednesday, deputies served a search warrant at Dameron’s residence on County Road 75, when he admitted to the shooting with a Smith & Wesson .357 Magnum but termed it an accident. He said he burned the bloody towels from the incident and tried to bury the firearm, then showed deputies where in the woods he’d thrown it–under small tires, wrapped in three plastic bags.

“I am grateful that the victim was not more seriously injured and that we were able to get him the medical care he needed,” Sheriff Rick Staly said. “This is an example of how a domestic dispute can quickly escalate into a more critical situation. No relationship problem is worth going to jail over or losing your
life. If you need help call us before the situation becomes dire.”

Dameron was charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, a second degree felony, and aggravated assault, a third-degree felony. He was held on $30,000 bond on those two charges.  Last August he was charged with battery after he punched his then-girlfriend and strangled her to the point of briefly impeding her breathing. That was the arrest for which he initially faced a felony charge. But the prosecutor pursued only a battery charge, for which he was out on bond, the case still wending its way through court. That bond was revoked Wednesday, in light of his latest arrest, so he remains at the county jail.

Beard was charged with a misdemeanor domestic battery charge and held on $1,500 bond.

The fate of the toaster is unknown.