Scott Powers
Someone fired four bullets through the windows of a satellite office of the Volusia County Republican Party in South Daytona Beach, either late Sunday or early Monday morning, leaving a shattered window, bullet holes in the ceiling and walls, and whatever message the shooter thought he might be sending.
No one was injured.
The shots were fired after the office closed around 4 p.m. Sunday and before the first volunteers showed up at 9 a.m. Monday. So no one was inside and the shattered and pierced windows and bullet holes were discovered Monday morning, according to South Daytona Beach Police Capt. Mark Cheatham. A second window was damaged by a bullet hole, but not shattered.
Cheatham said four slugs were recovered and they are relatively small-caliber, suggesting a handgun, but said he could not speculate more until ballistics tests are run. There were no casings recovered.
He also said there are no witnesses and so far the department has not found any surveillance video to review what might have happened or see who did it.
The party office reopened Monday after police finished scouring the scene. The office is located in a small strip shopping center on South Nova Road. Other businesses are on either side, but they all were closed at the time too, Cheatham said.
In a video posted by the Daytona Beach News-Journal, Volusia County Republican Chairman Tony Ledbetter said, “I’m looking at some busted out window that some nice Democrat did. Republicans don’t have any beef about what we’re doing it’s the Democrats.”
Ledbetter also told the News-Journal that the party would repair the window and keep working.
