The Leon County Sheriff’s Office arrested a man who allegedly shot multiple rounds at another vehicle in traffic during an April 29 incident in northwest Tallahassee.
D’ysious Simmons, 20, was arrested April 30 on charges of attempted first-degree murder and possession of a machine gun. He was taken to the Leon County Detention Facility.
Deputies responded around 11:50 a.m. on April 29 to a reported shooting near Fred George Road and Connector Drive. The victim reported being followed by another vehicle and shot at, LCSO said in a news release. The victim’s car was hit multiple times, but the driver escaped without injury.
“Through surveillance, forensic evidence, and rapid investigative work, personnel identified D’Ysious Simmons as the suspect and obtained his vehicle information,” LCSO said. “Detectives later located the vehicle at his apartment complex on the 1100 block of South Magnolia Drive, where detectives obtained and executed a search warrant.”
According to the arrest report, the victim called 911 to report that he had been followed by a white Chevrolet Camaro and that multiple shots had been fired from the driver’s side window at his truck. The victim also said he had been in a recent altercation with a group of people at the Walmart on West Tennessee Street and that Simmons was present.
Law enforcement later caught up with Simmons outside an apartment on South Magnolia Drive, and he agreed to an interview. The police report says he got close enough behind the victim’s truck to read the license plate and “felt that he was in danger due to (the victim) ‘reaching in his truck.’ “
“Simmons then admitted to taking out his handgun with an extended magazine and fired it at (the victim) who was driving away from him, even though he never observed a firearm in (the victim’s) possession,” the report says.
Detectives recovered a firearm that had been illegally modified to function as an automatic weapon.
“This case is a clear example of the dangerous consequences when disputes escalate to gun violence,” Sheriff Walt McNeil said. “Thanks to the swift, coordinated efforts of our deputies and detectives, we were able to quickly identify, locate, and arrest the suspect while removing an illegally modified automatic weapon from our community.”
LCSO described the shooting as “an isolated incident” and said the investigation remains active and ongoing.
Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@tallahassee.com or 850-599-2180.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: LCSO: Man arrested for shooting in traffic with ‘machine gun’
Reporting by Jeff Burlew, Tallahassee Democrat / Tallahassee Democrat
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