PALM COAST - A 19 year-old was shot and killed in Palm Coast early Saturday morning, the Flagler Sheriff's Office has said. Jamey 'JuJu' Bennett was said to be in an altercation involving a girl before being fatally shot.
A birthday bonfire was being held in a wooded area known as 'the mudhole' north of Matanzas High School off Old Kings Rd. Many of the attendees that night were said to have been MHS students.
While details are still unclear, it's been said that Bennett was defending a girl at the party who'd been accosted by another attendee, and that the ensuing dispute led to a gun being fired at him. He was taken to AdventHealth Palm Coast, where he died from his wounds.
As the investigation ramps up, Sheriff Rick Staly is asking those who were at the party to come forward with information. “We are asking parents to talk to their children,” he said. “If they were at this party in the woods, they’re not in trouble but we need their information and we need any video that they may have recorded before the party and after the shooting occurred that they may have recorded on their cell phone.”
Still, the Sheriff is confident that Bennett's killer will be brought to justice. “I’m 100% confident that we are going to solve this incident and the prior two, one that occurred late in 2021, and the one we took over for the Bunnell police department,” he continued. “It just takes an inordinate amount of time. You wait for lab reports, technology reports and subpoenas to get answered by private companies. Unfortunately it’s not like CSI that you watch on TV. These things take just a long time."
This marks the second homicide in Flagler County in 2022 so far, with another occurring on December 29th. The victims were all black men between the ages of 16 and 23.
If any more developments transpire on this story, WNDB will have the latest.
