- April 25, 2024
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Updated 4:07 p.m. July 14
One minute, 21-year-old Darien Corbett was in his bedroom as his wife was vacuuming a new rug in his home at 3A Frank Place, Palm Coast, and the next he had a gun in his face.
It was 2 a.m. July 13, and the bedroom door was being kicked in, so he struggled to keep it closed, scraping his arm as he did so.
Inside the home was his daughter, who had just turned 2, as well as the girl's mother and three other adults, all about 20 years old. Corbett managed to keep the door closed long enough to grab his .40 caliber weapon. Then, he opened the door and ran at them in the front room.
"I just closed my eyes and shot twice, and then my gun stopped working," Corbett said in a statement to deputies.
When the deputies arrived at 2:17 a.m., they found a man lying face down, dead, with a black cloth around his face. His gun had been kicked away from him. He was later identified as 28-year-old Victor James Betty of 17 Cloverdale Court S. An inmate search shows that he had been arrested on drug charges twice before, in 2013 and 2011. A press release from the Sheriff's Office says Betty and the other suspect, later identified as 19-year-old Carl Devore of 6 Cedar Court, were seeking marijuana, although the deputies' report doesn't mention marijuana. There is also no indication whether the suspects knew the victims.
Before the deputies arrived, Devore had fled the scene and was not located after deputies and a K-9 team searched the area. Later, he surrendered himself at the FCSO Operations Center. Detectives have obtained a warrant charging him with second-degree felony murder and attempted home invasion robbery. He has been booked into the Flagler County Inmate Facility and is being held without bond. He had never been arrested before.
Additional information will be provided as the investigation continues. Anyone with information about this incident is urged to contact the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office at (386) 313-4911. Callers can also remain anonymous by contacting Crime Stoppers of Northeast Florida at 1(888) 277-8477 (TIPS). Callers are eligible to receive a reward of up to $1,000.
Editor's Note: This story has been corrected to reflect that Darien Corbett's wife was vacuuming the rug in the bedroom. The previous version of the story stated Corbett himself was vacuuming the rug, and it was implied that the rug was near the front door.
