At about 3:00 a.m. on April 2, 2014, patrol deputies responded to a call in which a witness saw someone actively shooting a firearm from within a vehicle.
According to deputies, the witness advised the subject fired multiple rounds out of a vehicle in the area of 62nd Avenue North and 28th Street. Deputies say the caller followed the vehicle at a safe distance, until deputies located the suspect vehicle travelling eastbound on Park Boulevard.
Deputies attempted to stop the vehicle, but the vehicle fled. Deputies initiated a brief pursuit, which ended when the suspect drove off the roadway into a ditch at the intersection of Gandy Boulevard and 9th Street North.
Deputies say the passenger, identified as 16-year old David Escobar, remained and was apprehended. The driver, identified as 16-year-old Zachary J. Baxter, exited the vehicle and fled on foot. The Sheriff’s K-9 Unit was deployed and subsequently located Baxter in a nearby apartment complex.
The subjects were interviewed and through their investigation, deputies were able to determine Escobar was the one who had fired the shots out of the vehicle.
Escobar was arrested for discharging a firearm from within a vehicle; Baxter for principal to discharging a weapon and for fleeing and eluding.
The gun was recovered. According to deputies it was listed as stolen gun from a Seminole residential burglary.
Detectives from the Sheriff’s Burglary and Pawn Unit are at this time investigating this aspect of the case.
