Four teenagers have been arrested in connection to a drive-by shooting in Pierson on Sunday, according to a new report from the Volusia Sheriff’s Office. The incident occurred at around 11:52 pm on Sunday, and the VSO’s suspects are ages 15, 15, 16, and 18.
According to the report, the VSO received a call late Sunday that a home on Shaw Lake Road had been fired at, with occupants inside the building at the time of the shooting. The house was hit multiple times, luckily with no one being injured. The caller told dispatchers the vehicle which fired the shots was a red Toyota Tacoma pickup truck, and provided them with the license plate number.
A deputy was able to track down the truck described in the call, and conducted a traffic stop. Upon executing a search of the vehicle, the deputy apparently found two handguns, multiple boxes of ammunition, several magazines inside, and spent shell casings inside.
Zared Castaneda’s mugshot. ⓒ Volusia County Branch Jail
The four occupants of the truck were arrested at the scene: 15-year-olds Jesus Castaneda and Angel Ruiz-Rios, 16-year-old Brian Hernandez, and 18-year-old Zared Castaneda. All four suspects are residents of DeLand. All four were charged with firing into an occupied dwelling, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, discharging a firearm from a vehicle, and firing a weapon in public or on residential property.
The three minors received additional charges of unlawful possession of a firearm by a minor, while solely Zared Castaneda was charged with three counts of contributing to the deliquency of a minor. This booking was Zared’s first on-record as an adult in Volusia County.
The three suspects who are underage were processed with the Volusia Family Resource Center, before then being transferred to the Department of Juvenile Justice. Zared, being the one adult in the truck, was booked directly into the Volusia County Branch Jail with no bond.
Video of the arrest was provided by the Volusia Sheriff’s Office:
TR
May 21, 2024 at 9:28 pm
Give these dirtbags the toughest punishment allowed by law and then make them serve their sentence without bond and no plea deals. I think plea deals are dumb anyway and should never be allowed for anyone who gets arrested for breaking the law.