VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – A fatal shooting in Edgewater last week appeared to have stemmed from a drug deal gone wrong, according to court records released after the shooting.
Police said that the shooting happened around 9:30 p.m. on Oct. 5 near the 1500 block of Juniper Drive, the site of a local homeless camp. Two people were injured in the shooting, and one man was killed at the scene.
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In an arrest affidavit, police said that they learned a man and a woman were seen walking into the camp earlier that day, though one of the injured victims had been “ripping” off the man in a drug deal within the past few weeks.
The next day, New Smyrna Beach police were called out by a woman — identified as Laura Carter, 42 — who reported her handgun was missing, the affidavit shows.
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Carter told detectives that she and her partner — identified as Walter Russell, 45 — had gone into the wooded area approaching the homeless camp, though at some point, Russell told her to stay where she was as he continued onward, investigators said.
According to the affidavit, Carter then explained that she heard gunshots, and Russell eventually appeared “in a quick fashion,” causing her to “have to sprint after him” back toward their vehicle.
During her explanation, Carter indicated that Russell had her firearm, though when asked how Russell had it if the gun was missing, Carter then “tried to backtrack and claimed her gun was lost, and she was unaware of Russell having a gun during the incident,” the affidavit reads.
Russell was later taken into custody, and during an interview with detectives, he admitted that he and Carter had been to the area while he was armed with her gun, police said.
Detectives added Russell admitted that one of the victims had “previously attempted to rob him during a narcotics transaction and had sold him bad dope.”
However, Russell said that he approached the camp, but the people in the homeless camp began charging him because “he probably spooked them,” police said.
The affidavit shows that Russell told detectives that he fled while firing shots behind him, though he discarded Carter’s firearm before driving away in the car.
Russell also told detectives that Carter “was supposed to wait seven days to report her firearm missing,” the affidavit says.
Russell faces charges of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted first-degree murder. Meanwhile, Carter faces a charge of accessory after the fact. Both are held with no bond.
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