Last Updated: 1:35 p.m.
A domestic dispute resulted in the shooting death of a 36-year-old man at 20 Blare Drive in Palm Coast’s Woodlands before dawn today. The homesteaded house is owned by a retired Coast Guard commander.
Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly said the incident is contained to the house. While the the Sheriff’s Office has made no arrests yet, “it is concentrated to that residence, so the community doesn’t have to be concerned. It’s a tragic incident.” He added, “It’s still a very active investigation by our Major Case Unit and CSI,” a reference to the Crime Scene Investigation unit, which was still at the scene nearing noon today.
Blare Drive between Blaine Drive and Black Alder Drive was closed to traffic and would remain closed for the duration of the forensic investigation, but Staly said he expected the road to reopen later today, when that portion of the investigation was done.
There were three adults in the house at the time of the shooting, all known to each other, no children. The assailant is an adult male. It was a family situation, as opposed to a group home. Alcohol or drugs appear not to have played a role in the incident, the sheriff said, but he cautioned that all findings are very preliminary.
The significant amount of forensic work inside the house includes blood-spatter analyses, which hints at the possible defense by the assailant that the shooting may have been in self-defense: blood spatters would help investigators decipher the veracity of claims one way or the other.
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“This is not a whodunnit, but we don’t rush to make an arrest when everybody is identified and there is no threat to the community,” the sheriff said. ‘I would anticipate a pretty significant update within 24 to 48 hours.” He said early indications are that the shooting was impulsive rather than calculated, “in other words it didn’t appear to me to be a pre-meditated homicide,” the sheriff said.
In domestic homicides, it’s not unusual that arrests are not made immediately. Investigators want to “make sure what we’re being told matches with the evidence,” the sheriff said. “We need to make sure all the evidence points in the direction we believe it does.” While he would not confirm details of the investigation, it is all but certain that the two surviving individuals in the house are being or have been questioned at length. But it’s not clear whether they are being cooperative.”
The house at 20 Blare Drive has been cause for nine sheriff’s responses only since last October, not including today’s indicent–four times on civil calls (which can mean anything from issuing a subpoena or intervening in a private dispute to ensure the parties’ safety–twice to assist another public agency, twice in response for verbal disturbances, and once because of an illegal parking issue.
The house, which is homesteaded, has been owned by Charles Kidd Jr., an 87-year-old retired U.S. Coast Guard Commander, at least since 2010, according to Flagler County Property Appraiser records, though he and his wife moved to Palm Coast in 1985. Kidd’s wife Diane died 10 years ago.
“Our prayers go out to the family and friends of the victim,” Staly was quoted as saying in a release issued after the shooting. “Our detectives are working hard to determine what happened leading up to this incident.” In an interview, the sheriff stressed that numerous resources are available in the community to address or hedge off domestic issues before they become violent. “Seek help before it boils over and somebody is seriously injured or dies,” he said, noting a significant increase in domestic violence incidents, arrests and cases of stalking again this year, after a decline.
[This is a developing story. More soon.]
