Minutes after a shooting early Friday morning in Columbia County, the suspect was killed in an all-terrain vehicle crash, the Florida Highway Patrol said.
According to troopers, the shooting suspect, identified as a 40-year-old Lake City man, was driving an ATV around 3:15 a.m. when he went off the roadway while traveling south on Southwest Mount Carmel Avenue near Southwest Pinemount Road, went into a ditch and collided with a concrete block. Following the collision, the ATV continued traveling into a wooded area, where the operator was thrown from the vehicle as it flipped multiple times.
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The FHP news release shows the ATV operator died.
According to troopers, the shooting that the operator is suspected in happened about a mile away — in the area of U.S. Highway 90 and Northwest Turner Avenue — about 30 minutes before the deadly crash.
After FHP sent out its news release, the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office posted on Facebook, saying the shooting happened around 2:40 a.m. at a home on Southwest Richards Drive — near the intersection of U.S. Highway 90 and Northwest Turner Avenue. Deputies said a gun was fired into the home, and a person was grazed by a bullet and did not need medical treatment.
The Sheriff’s Office confirmed in a Facebook post that the suspect was believed to be driving a four-wheeler, however, it said it was working with FHP “to determine if the two incidents are related.”
The Highway Patrol is investigating the ATV crash, and the Sheriff’s Office is investigating the shooting.