Detectives Arrest Man, 23, In Connection With Armed Robbery and Shooting Near Rymfire

The evening of February 12, residents of the Rickenbacker Drive neighborhood, just behind Rymfire Elementary, heard several gunshots. It was a drug deal gone bad involving four men, an alleged beating, armed burglary and armed robbery, and finally the shooting that left blood splatters at 46 Rickenbacker Drive.

Palm Coast has been the scene of growing number of shootings, at times termed “random,” though such shootings rarely are. And in this case surveillance video captured part of the shooting incident and helped identify those involved. On Thursday (April 6), Flagler County Sheriff’s detectives, acting on a warrant issued that day, arrested Edward Leroy Stark Jr. and charged him with four felonies in connection with the Feb. 12 incident. He is being held at the Flagler County jail on $100,000 bond.

According to Valeriy Deyak, at the time the resident at the Rickenbacker Drive address, he was involved in a drug deal with three men: Stark, Devonti R. Emanuel, and DeAndre M. McCall, all 23. He had entered the house with Emanuel and McCall: video footage shows the three men entering the house at 9:32 p.m. that evening, with Stark staying in a Honda in the driveway. Inside, Deyak told detectives, he was selling Emanuel and McCall a pound of marijuana for $2,800 when, Deyak says, they “inexplicably attacked him,” according to a police report. He alleges that McCall began to choke him from behind while Emanuel disarmed Deyak of his .45 caliber handgun and pistol-whipped him and threatening to kill him.

Video surveillance shows that 10 minutes after Deyak had gone into his house with the two men, Stark jumped out of the Honda, ran to the front door and looked as if he were trying to kick it open, but someone opened the door for him.

Deyak—who spoke to detectives on March 2 at the State Attorney’s office, with Assistant State Attorney Jason Lewis present as well—told investigators that Emanuel handed Stark the .45-caliber handgun and the three men began rummaging through his belongings, removing jewelry from his person, including two $600 gold rings with diamonds, two necklaces and a bracelet worth $2,000, a $600 Bulova watch encrusted with diamonds, worth $600,  an MKA-1919 semiautomatic shotgun worth $650, and the .45 they had allegedly seized earlier. They also took the pot, and struck Deyak in the head, apparently, he says, in an attempt to knock him out before they left the house.

They did not knock him out. Rather, immediately after they left, Deyak started watching them on his elaborate video-surveillance system to ensure they left. But what he saw instead was Stark running back to the house.

Stark had forgotten his keys to the Honda.

Deyak told investigators that at that point he grabbed another .45-caliber handgun and confronted the three men from his front door, shooting his gun in their direction to scare them off. The men fled on foot.

Sheriff’s deputies arrived at the scene at 8:56 p.m. after getting complaints of gunshots in the area. They found the silver Honda backed into the driveway, its driver-side door open, a black bag on the passenger side with a large amount of pot in it, several bottles opf prescription pills, the shotgun—and several bullet holes in the vehicle. Four .40-caliber shell casings were located in the driveway up to the door of the house. There was a small smear of blood on the front door.

Because of the blood, deputies entered the house without a warrant to locate any injured individuals. Deputies found no injured parties, but in plain view, the keys to the Honda were on the couch. A detective located the elaborate video surveillance system, which was connected to a recorder in the master bedroom, with several cameras arrayed around the house. The house was unoccupied. Deputies secured it, and the next day detectives returned with a search warrant, which applied to the video recorder and (with another search warrant in late March) to Deyak’s phone as well.

Based on the video footage detectives reconstructed some of the scene, noting that the three men in the Honda had not been able to leave because of the keys left in the living room. Detectives, based on their knowledge of the suspects, as well as Deyak, identified the individuals involved.

Stark, a resident of 816 Hymon Circle, was arrested at 1:51 a.m. on Bunnell’s East Booe Street. He remains at the county jail. Warrants are out for Emanuel’s and McCall’s arrests.