PALATKA, Fla. — A man is dead and another is seriously injured after a reported road rage shooting in Palatka Friday. The Palatka Police Department announced the arrest of Justin Mullens, 51, who reportedly shot two people just minutes away from a daycare.
The police department says officers responded to the Little Sprouts Learning Center daycare at around 5:46 am Friday morning to find a white truck had crashed into the school’s sign. Police say the school was in no way involved with the shooting, which officers said happened at the nearby intersection of Crill Avenue and Laurel Street.
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Palatka police said one of the initial calls came in from Mullins, who reported that he had just shot at least one person.
An investigation determined that Mullins had gotten angry with the two people in the truck, identified as Sidney Carter, 44, and William Krueger, 45.
PPD said Mullins shot a handgun multiple times from his vehicle and into the truck while it passed him, hitting both victims. Carter reportedly lost control of the truck while trying to get away and drove it into the daycare sign.
When police arrived, they said Mullins was near the truck and appeared to be trying to assist the victims.
Both victims were taken to the hospital, but PPD said Carter died from his injuries hours later. Krueger is listed as being in critical but stable condition.
“When we walked outside this morning, it looked like the 4th of July, there were so many police,” a woman living a block away from the daycare told Action News Jax.
She didn’t want to share her name, but told us she and her husband heard the truck crash into the sign while watching TV inside their house.
“When we saw what happened, it looked like something out of a movie. You have to see this to believe this,” she said.
Mullins is being charged with second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder.
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