UPDATE: Edgewater Police have started a GoFundMe to help Jewell’s family.
An off-duty Florida police officer walked into a Circle K and was shot to death within minutes in broad daylight by an employee there, according to Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood.
Edgewater Police Department Officer David Jewell can be seen on surveillance video walking into the Ormond-by-the-Sea convenience store, Chitwood said, and Eduardo Felipe Labrada Machado, 24, walks out moments later to get a jacket from his car.
Machado then “shoots Jewell in the head multiple times, killing him,” the sheriff’s office states.
“The video is probably something that in 38 years of law enforcement, that I can tell you — it’s unbelievable what you see in that video,” Sheriff Mike Chitwood stated in the Facebook post.
Machado has confessed and has been charged with first-degree murder, according to a Sept. 16 morning Facebook post from the VCSO. He is being held without bond.
“Interviews with the defendant’s family members revealed he had been diagnosed with a mental health disorder in the past, and had indicated he was hearing voices. Family members said he was quiet and played a lot of video games,” the VCSO release said.
Here’s what we know.
What happened in the Florida Circle K shooting?
During a press conference, Chitwood said that Jewell drove up to the Circle K gas station with his father-in-law in a truck and went inside at around 4:08 p.m. to get a hot dog.
Machado walked out of the store and then walked back in within a minute, Chitwood said..
“He walks up behind David and fires multiple shots into David’s head,” Chitwood said. “When David goes to the ground, the gun jams. He stands over top of him, clears the gun, and then probably fires another seven or eight shots. There’s 10 or 12, 15, shots into David’s head.”
Machado then put his jacket and firearm in the car and changed his shirt. Chitwood said that the other clerk, who had been in the restroom, assumed it was “a robbery or something.”
Why did a Circle K employee shoot an Edgewater Police officer?
Machado told investigators he’d seen Jewell in the store several times and thought he once had an argument with him, but couldn’t remember details, the VCSO release said.
“The defendant said he was having a bad day on his drive to work, and thought about shooting Jewell earlier,” VCSO said. “When he arrived at work and saw Jewell, he used a handgun he recently purchased to shoot him multiple times at close range.
“He did not say anything to Jewell prior to shooting him.”
Machado had been previously diagnosed with a mental health disorder according to family members but they were not aware of any homicidal threats or anti-law enforcement ideologies, the VCSO said. He had no previous criminal history, with a single complaint about him shooting guns at Tomoka State Park in 2023.
Where was the Edgewater Police officer killed in a Circle K? Where in Florida is Ormond-by-the-Sea
The shooting was at Circle K at 2460 Ocean Shore Blvd. in Ormond-by-the-Sea at the corner of Wisteria Drive. Ormond-by-the-Sea is a small oceanfront unincorporated area of Volusia County between Ormond Beach and the Flagler County line.
Who was Florida police officer David Jewell?
David Jewell was sworn in as an Edgewater Police officer in June 2023, according to the Edgewater Police Department.
He previously worked for the Volusia Sheriff’s Office as a Telecommunicator and won the “Telecommunicator of the Quarter” award in 2020.
“David was a guy that we could rely on for anything, never heard a bad thing about him, and he’s going to be a tremendous loss to the Edgewater Police Department,” Acting Edgewater Police Chief Charles Geiger said.
“We are heartbroken to hear about the passing of a tremendous individual and member of our police department. Officer David Jewell,” Edgewater Mayor Diezel Depew said in a Facebook post. “A man who gave his adult life to public service. A man who was always calm collected and well respected, loved in the community.”
Jewell left behind a wife and son.
A verified GoFundMe has been set up by Edgewater Police Administrative Sergeant Sara Geiger to provide funds for his family at gofundme.com/f/honor-officer-jewell-help-his-loved-ones. By Tuesday afternoon it had raised more than $1,000 toward its $28,000 goal.
(This story was updated to add new information.)
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Florida police officer shot, killed in Circle K, clerk charged with murder. What we know
Reporting by Frank Fernandez and C. A. Bridges, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
