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Altamonte Springs homicide suspect arrested after three-hour Deltona standoff

By 3 min read

A man wanted in connection with a fatal shooting in Altamonte Springs was arrested Sunday evening after a vehicle pursuit and an approximately three-hour standoff near State Road 415 and Howland Boulevard in Deltona, authorities said.

CFL Report coverage related to Altamonte Springs homicide suspect arrested after three-hour Deltona standoff
Image from the original CFL Report Facebook coverage.

The Volusia Sheriff’s Office identified the suspect as 65-year-old John Schmalz-Riedt. According to the agency’s account, Altamonte Springs police issued a be-on-the-lookout notice for a black Ram pickup driven by a homicide suspect believed to be armed. The underlying shooting occurred at about 3:15 p.m. Aug. 23 on Conrad Court, where a woman was found shot and later pronounced dead, WFTV reported.

At approximately 4:30 p.m., a license-plate reader in Volusia County detected the pickup, the sheriff’s office said. A deputy located it traveling south on State Road 415 and attempted a stop. Schmalz-Riedt allegedly refused to stop. Deputies deployed stop sticks, damaging a tire, and used a pursuit-intervention maneuver near Howland Boulevard. The pickup came to rest in a wooded area.

Authorities said Schmalz-Riedt was armed and initially did not comply with commands. Negotiators made contact by phone while traffic was restricted around the intersection. After roughly three hours, he surrendered at about 8:30 p.m. without the exchange of gunfire reported in the official release.

The two CFL Report reels capture different phases of the same event: the first reported a barricaded homicide suspect and the road closure, and the second showed the all-important outcome, his capture. Combining them prevents the preliminary alert from remaining online without the resolution.

The sheriff’s office said Schmalz-Riedt faced a Volusia County charge of fleeing or attempting to elude. Altamonte Springs police sought charges of second-degree murder and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He was being held without bond at the Volusia County Branch Jail when the sheriff’s release was published. Those are accusations, not findings of guilt. Any future update will use the court docket to confirm which counts prosecutors formally filed and whether bond or custody status later changed.

The victim’s name was not supplied in the official materials reviewed for this report, so CFL Report is not relying on comments or unofficial posts for an identification. The available record also does not establish a relationship or motive. Those details require confirmation from investigators or court records and sensitivity toward the victim’s family.

License-plate readers played a direct role in locating the vehicle, according to the sheriff’s office, but the alert did not itself establish who was driving or prove the homicide allegation. Deputies’ observation and subsequent arrest supplied the chain of events described by the agency.

The confirmed public-safety outcome is that the busy Deltona intersection was blocked during an armed standoff and later reopened after a surrender. Both the homicide and flight allegations remain attributed to authorities.

Sources: volusiasheriff.gov, wftv.com.