PALM COAST, FL – The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office (FCSO) began investigating a homicide on October 12, 2019 when two people were shot while sitting in a vehicle at the Circle K Gas Station at Belle Terre Boulevard and Palm Coast Parkway at 3:30 in the morning. According to detectives, a man fired sixteen rounds from a firearm at the victims in less than four seconds before fleeing on foot.
The driver of the vehicle that had just been shot fled from the area and called 911. The passenger in the vehicle, 25-year-old Deon O’Neal Jenkins, died in the car moments later before paramedics could reach him. The driver of the vehicle also sustained a gunshot wound.
This started the most extensive investigation in modern FCSO history involving more than 20 local, county, state and federal law enforcement agencies and over 2,000 investigative hours. Using numerous investigative techniques, detectives were able to trace the shooter’s movements through business surveillance cameras in the area until he was picked up in a vehicle by his accomplice. The suspects then fled the state travelling to Virginia and later to California. This investigation spanned across Florida including Duval, Clay, Gulf, Miami-Dade and Putnam Counties, and to jurisdictions in Virginia, South Carolina and California.
During this 15-month long investigation detectives spent about 2,000 investigative hours on this case. In varying degrees and capacities, over 40 Flagler County Sheriff’s Office employees, from patrol, to investigations, crime scene investigators, victim advocates, crime analysts, and others contributed to this successful investigation.
At the conclusion of the investigation, the shooter was identified as 26-year-old Marcus Avery Chamblin and the getaway driver as 26-year-old Derrius Braxton Bauer. On Thursday, January 7, 2021, both suspects were taken into custody.
Chamblin, the shooter, is charged with the First-Degree Murder of Deon Jenkins and the Attempted 2nd Degree Murder of a second Palm Coast man, as well as Shooting into an Occupied Vehicle. He was detained while in prison at the Gulf Correctional Facility where he was just days from being released.
Bauer, the accomplice, was charged with Principal to First Degree Murder, Principal to 2nd Degree Attempted Murder, and Principal to Shooting into an Occupied Vehicle, and was arrested in Jacksonville and booked into the Duval-Jacksonville County jail. Both men will be brought to Flagler County to face their charges and are being held under no bond.
“This case is a testament to the lengths we will go to build a strong case, examine all the evidence, and take the time to bring justice for the victim and their family,” Sheriff Rick Staly said. “We’d like to thank the many agencies throughout the country that assisted with this case and I commend our entire team for bringing this difficult case to conclusion. Let this be a warning to criminals that law enforcement today knows no boundaries and we will always work with our partners, like they did for us, across the country to solve crime and arrest offenders no matter how long it takes.”
Flagler County Sheriff’s Office detectives were assisted in this investigation by the the Florida Department of Law Enforcement; the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s – Daytona Beach Field Office and the FBI’s Newport News Field Office and the FBI’s Operational Technology Division located in Quantico, Virginia; the 7th Circuit State Attorney’s Office Homicide Investigations Unit; the Federal Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives; the Clay County Sheriff’s Office; the St. John’s County Sheriff’s Office; the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office; the Newport News, Virginia Police Department; the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department; the Los Angeles Police Department; the Walterboro, South Carolina Police Department; the Florida Department of Corrections; the Miami Dade Police Department; the Florida Department of Inspector General; and the Gulf County Sheriff’s Office.
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