UPDATE (07-21-15): Travis Jamel Thomas is booked at Volusia County Jail. He’s held without bond on an aggravated battery with a firearm charge. Daytona Beach police say he turned himself in at 11:15am Tuesday.
Earlier reporting below.
Daytona Beach, FL – SWAT officers spent hours outside a Daytona Beach home and come up empty-handed after the shooting suspect they thought was inside wasn’t.
The Daytona Beach Police Department continues to search for 27-year-old Travis Jamel Thomas, calling him the suspect in the shooting of an 18-year-old man this past Saturday morning near Thomas’ home 219 North Adams Street, just west of the Bethune-Cookman University campus.
It was at that home where DBPD deployed its SWAT team after getting a tip from the victim’s family around 2pm Monday that they just saw Thomas entering his home.
But by the time police got there – and after hours of blocking off streets near the home – DBPD Chief Mike Chitwood said his officers couldn’t find Thomas.
“[Around 5 o’clock] Saturday morning, there was an altercation at Oak [Street] and Adams,” Chitwood told the media as SWAT units were clearing the scene. “During that altercation, a man is shot in the leg.”
According to the incident report, the victim claims Thomas shot him after he and Thomas’ brother had just got into a fight during a block party on Orange Avenue.
Investigators think Thomas and his brother followed the victim to his home and it was near the victim’s front yard where the shooting took place.
Chitwood said it’s unclear at this point what the men were arguing about, but he did note that the victim’s mother had come out of the home to take her son inside and both of them were walking towards their home when Thomas pulled out a gun and fired at their backs.
“To cold-bloodedly just walk up when [the] victim is walking away with his mother and just fire 2 shots… It could easily be a homicide or a double homicide we’re looking at right now,” Chitwood added. “Bullets are very indiscriminate when they’re fired.”
Chitwood noted that the victim – who lives near Thomas’ home – is recovering after he was taken to Halifax Health Medical Center for treatment.
Police blocked off a 2 to 3 block stretch of Adams Street north from Progress Road soon after the tip came in and were still on scene around 6pm Monday, 30 minutes after entering Thomas’ home and discovering that he wasn’t there.
Chitwood said they believe Thomas is armed and consider him dangerous because he was seen earlier in the day going into a nearby gun shop.
Thomas is described as an African-American man who stands 6’4 and weighs around 225 pounds. He has tattoos on both his arms and left hand.
Police think he may be driving a green 1996 Honda Accord with a Florida tag of 324 3QL.
Volusia County Jail records show Thomas has been booked there 9 times since July 2006, including in February 2014 for marijuana possession, driving with a suspended license, driving an unregistered motor vehicle and leaving the scene of a crash with property damage.
Anyone with information is asked to contact DBPD Detective Liles at 386-671-5266 or lilesm@dbpd.us. Tipsters can also call Crime Stoppers at 888-277-8477 to remain anonymous and possibly qualify for a cash reward.
Travis J. Thomas (mugshot courtesy Volusia County Jail)
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