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Two unrelated DeLand-area death investigations follow Sept. 1 incidents

By 3 min read

Two separate death investigations were underway in the DeLand area after incidents reported Tuesday night, Sept. 1. One began with a trespassing call that ended in a fatal shooting on North Boulevard Court. The other began when a boater reported a body in Lake Beresford. Nothing released by authorities indicates that the cases are related.

Two unrelated investigations editorial map graphic with two separate location pins
CFL Report editorial illustration. The pins are symbolic and do not show exact addresses.

Fatal shooting after trespassing call

Volusia Sheriff’s Office deputies responded at about 10:47 p.m. to 127 N. Boulevard Court in the unincorporated DeLand area. According to the agency’s Sept. 2 release, the caller said he had shot a person he described as a trespasser. Deputies found the caller outside with his hands raised and found an adult man with multiple gunshot wounds in the driveway. The wounded man was pronounced dead at the scene.

The Sheriff’s Office said its preliminary investigation showed that the caller lived in a camper at the address. The man who died had previously stayed at the property intermittently but was no longer permitted there, the agency said. Investigators were told the caller found him asleep in a laundry room and that an argument followed.

The caller told detectives the other man advanced toward him despite repeated warnings, prompting him to fire several rounds, according to the release. That is the caller’s account, not a final legal finding. The Sheriff’s Office had not announced an arrest, a charging decision or a determination that the shooting was legally justified as of Sept. 7. The agency also had not publicly identified the man who died in the materials reviewed for this article.

Body recovered from Lake Beresford

Earlier Tuesday evening, at about 7:51 p.m., a boater reported seeing what appeared to be a body in Lake Beresford on the Hontoon Road side of the lake. Reporting that cited the Sheriff’s Office said responders recovered the body of an adult man. Authorities said the body appeared to have been in the water for an extended period.

No visible injury or trauma was immediately reported, and investigators did not initially identify evidence of foul play. Those observations do not establish a cause or manner of death. The body was sent to the medical examiner for an autopsy and identification. A search of the Sheriff’s Office’s public releases and other available official material found no later announcement naming the man or giving an autopsy result as of Sept. 7.

The Sept. 2 source material described both matters as investigations. No later public resolution was located in the sources reviewed through Sept. 7, but the absence of a public update does not by itself prove either case remains open. Anyone with direct information should contact the Volusia Sheriff’s Office through its published nonemergency channels and specify which incident the information concerns.

Sources: Volusia Sheriff’s Office: Detectives investigating fatal shooting after DeLand-area trespassing call, WESH 2: Body found in Lake Beresford near DeLand, Volusia County: Lake Beresford Park.