POINCIANA, Fla. — One person is dead and two others were taken to the hospital after a shooting Thursday in Poinciana, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said during a news conference.
The shooting happened earlier in the day on Sawfish Drive. Two adults were airlifted to a local hospital while another was pronounced dead outside of a home, Judd said.
The shooting stemmed from a series of events that began on Sunday, Feb. 19, the sheriff said during the news briefing.
Back on Feb. 19, Judd said a man was entertaining friends at his house in Poinciana when one of the friends took a gun from him without his knowledge. That friend would end up beating the man up, stealing a second firearm and a television.
"That's not really good friends, but that occurred," Judd explained.
The man beaten in his home did not make a report to the sheriff's office. The following day, he was feeling really sick and dizzy from the beating, Judd said, so he went to the hospital. It was then that he reported the event to detectives.
Polk detectives launched an investigation, determined who the suspect was and tracked him to the Haines City area.
When deputies met up with the suspect in the investigation, he immediately began to resist, Judd said, and ran back into his mobile home. Detectives called for assistance and eventually called the suspect's father who was able to talk him out of the home and somewhat de-escalate the situation.
The man was arrested and charged with home invasion burglary, which is a first-degree felony, resisting arrest, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of ammunition by a convicted felon.
Fast forward to Thursday, the victim is back at home with four more friends hanging out at around 4:15 p.m. at his house.
Judd said a man separate from the group, later identified as Derek "Ice" Bacote, 33, called one of the four friends hanging out because he was angry with him over a "girlfriend" in common.
"The suspect calls one of the four victims and the victim says, 'I'm not coming to your house. If you want to see me, come here,'" the sheriff said.
That's when the man drove over to the house in Poinciana. The homeowner confronts him outside while the person he wanted to fight also approached and Bacote punched him in the face, the sheriff's office reports.
"Immediately, our number one suspect comes over, punches one of the guys in the face and pulls out a firearm and says, 'You're gonna regret that,' in reference to the girlfriend issue," Judd explained.
Detectives said Bacote pointed the gun at multiple people at the home and shots rang out.
At this point, the Poinciana homeowner ran into his house to be with his children who are 3, 4, 9 and 12 years old, the sheriff's office said.
Detectives believe that Bacote shot into the car where two people, a 30-year-old man and 19-year-old woman, were sitting. At that moment, another person who was in the garage fired shots at Bacote, killing him, the sheriff's office reports.
When deputies and first responders arrived at the scene, the car that was shot into had run into a fence and busted into a house across the street.
The 30-year-old man is in critical condition and considered unstable at the hospital, the sheriff's office said in a news release. The 19-year-old woman is in critical condition but is said to be stable at the hospital.
"It is unknown if either of them are going to survive these injuries," Judd said.
Detectives are working to figure out if the shooting event is related to the fuss over the "girlfriend" issue, or if it's in retaliation for the report made on Monday that resulted in an arrest.
Judd said all of these people are loosely called "friends or associates" and some witnesses told detectives "all of them are involved in the same gang."