Deltona, FL – A 39-year-old man shot and killed himself after shooting his girlfriend and a Volusia County Sheriff’s Office dog during a domestic disturbance.
That’s the word from VCSO after deputies were called out to a home on Buttonwood Avenue in Deltona just after 11pm Wednesday.
VCSO spokesman Gary Davidson says it all started when Marlon D. McCray got into an argument with his 38-year-old girlfriend and she told him she wanted to break up.
“This enraged McCray, who threw a computer and a beer can inside the house, although neither struck the victim,” Davidson added. “During the argument, Holmes fled the house and sought refuge in a Chevrolet Malibu parked in the driveway.”
Deputies believe McCray armed himself with a metal jack and came outside threatening to use it on the car and on his girlfriend before going back into the house.
“A few minutes later, McCray came out with a gun and fired into the vehicle, striking the victim,” Davidson stated. “He then took off running between a couple of houses and into the woods.”
It was while deputies and K-9 units were searching the woods when more shots were fired, one of them hitting a VCSO dog named Endo in the neck.
A Seminole County Sheriff’s Office helicopter that joined in the search eventually found McCray lying in a wooded area around 1:15am Thursday, but it took VCSO deputies around 30 minutes to reach the scene, per Davidson.
“As the helicopter crew was guiding deputies on the ground to the location, a gunshot was heard from the woods at about 1:25am,” Davidson said. “Deputies reached [McCray] at 1:46am, where he was found dead with a gun in his hand.”
McCray’s girlfriend and the VCSO dog are both expected to recover, per Davidson.
“[She] sustained gunshot wounds to her right arm and abdomen, although doctors believe both injuries may have been caused by the same bullet,” Davidson noted. “[She was] transported by ambulance to Central Florida Regional Hospital in Sanford.”
The dog was taken to DeLand Animal Hospital.
The woman’s 2 children – a 5-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy – were in the home at the time of the incident. Both were unharmed and turned over to a relative, per VCSO.
Florida Department of Law Enforcement records show McCray served 3 years in prison after he was charged in Miami-Dade County for burglary, aggravated battery with a weapon and 2 counts of aggravated assault. He was released in July 2003.
McCray was never arrested in Volusia County, according to Volusia County Jail records.
Marlon D. McCray (mugshot courtesy FDLE)
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