- April 25, 2024
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Sheriff Rick Staly, in the red T-shirt, was off-duty when the shooting happened. He drove to the scene to help in the chase. (Photo courtesy of the Flagler County Sheriff's Office)
The suspect was driving an older Honda with a "coexist" bumper sticker. (Photo courtesy of the Flagler County Sheriff's Office)
Levi Evan Ovenshire (Photo courtesy of the Flagler County Sheriff's Office)
A shooter who injured a 19-year-old man the afternoon of June 24 led deputies on a car chase before crashing into the woods in the R-Section, where he was arrested.
The shooting happened at about 1:15 p.m. on Fulton Place in Palm Coast, according to a Flagler County Sheriff's Office news release. Deputies who responded to the shooting found the 19-year-old victim on the floor of his garage with a gunshot wound to his abdomen. He was airlifted to Halifax Medical Center in Daytona Beach with life-threatening injuries.
Deputies learned that the shooter had fled in an older Honda four-door car. The car was seen about 15 minutes later turning onto Royal Palms Parkway from Town Center Boulevard, according to the news release.
Deputies converged and tried to stop the car. The suspect was tossing items out of it as he drove. Deputies tried to use stop sticks, but the suspect drove around them.
He was trying to drive around another line of stop sticks when he crashed the car into the woodline at the intersection of Raleigh Drive and Rae Drive, where he was pinned in by Sheriff's Office cars and arrested, according to the news release.
The incident, from the 911 call to the arrest, lasted half an hour, according to the news release.
Deputies identified the suspect as Levi Ovenshire, a 19-year-old resident of Palm Coast's Fulton Place — the same street as the victim. Ovenshire has been "initially charged" with aggravated fleeing and eluding, according to the news release; the shooting itself is still under investigation.
Deputies do not yet know what the motive was.
Sheriff Rick Staly drove out to assist in the chase and arrived shortly after deputies caught Ovenshire.
“I hope the victim makes a full recovery, and I’m thankful that no one else was injured during the pursuit of this dirtbag,” Staly said in the news release. “He was driving like a maniac trying to get away, so I am glad that none of my deputies or people in our community were hurt.”
Ovenshire was arrested previously in May 2017 on a charge of possession of drug paraphernalia, but the charge was dropped.
He'd also been arrested in November 2015 on drug-related charges, and on two charges of principal to aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in connection with another incident: He'd been driving a car on Palm Coast Parkway when a 17-year-old girl in the car's passenger seat pointed a fake — but realistic looking — rifle out the window at other cars, scaring other motorists. Charges against Ovenshire were also dropped in that case.
