DeLand, FL – Detectives are on the case after a 24-year-old Deltona man was apparently struck by a stray bullet while walking down the street over the weekend.
Joshua Cronin went to Halifax Health Medical Center in Daytona Beach for treatment after paramedics discovered him “bleeding heavily” from the back of his head around 4:15 PM Saturday on the 700 block of Garfield Avenue, according to the DeLand Police Department.
DeLand PD Sergeant Chris Estes says Cronin went into surgery soon after he was airlifted to the hospital.
“We are waiting [for] confirmation from medical staff that the victim was struck by a bullet, although that is what appears to have happened,” Estes added.
According to the incident report, Cronin and a 25-year-old DeLand man heard a sound that they thought were firecrackers moments before Cronin’s friend discovered that Cronin was bleeding from the back of his head.
Cronin’s friend told DeLand PD that they had just left his girlfriend’s house and were walking south on Garfield back to his house when they heard the sound.
Cronin – who lives in a group home on Blaine Circle – started complaining that his head hurt and his friend made him sit down while he called 911, according to the report.
A Casselberry couple driving by the area told DeLand PD they spotted Cronin and his friend and they pulled over to apply pressure to the back of Cronin’s head with a paper towel until paramedics could arrive.
Officers think the sound both men heard may have come from the nearby Enclave at Pine Oaks apartment complex. No suspects have been identified at this time.
Copyright 2016 Southern Stone Communications.