ORANGE CITY, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35 ORLANDO) -
A man whom police say shot at a suspected shoplifter Wednesday trying to get away from a Central Florida Walmart is facing more serious charges than the suspected shoplifter.
Jose Manuel Martinez, 35, didn't expect to get arrested after shooting at a suspect's car in the parking lot of the Walmart on Veterans Memorial Parkway in Orange City.
"Yes, yes I was surprised," Martinez said. "He put me in danger, and other people."
Orange City Police say Eddie Dean McKee tried to leave the Walmart at about 1 p.m. with a cart full of unpaid merchandise.
"As he was exiting the store, lost prevention approached him. He abandoned the cart and tried to flee out the door. As he did, he pushed a customer down," Police Cmdr. Jason Sampsell said.
Loss prevention helped the female customer. But then investigators say McKee hopped into his car and tried to drive away, hitting a few vehicles in the process.
That's when police say Martinez, who has a concealed weapons permit, shot at McKee's vehicle.
"As he was trying to flee the scene, one of the customers opened fire on him," Sampsell said.
Said witness Shaun Warren: "He hit it with his car, I think. I think the car that shot at him busted somebody's windshield right there, so glass got over my car. It's crazy."
Several shots shattered the back window of McKee's car. McKee was pursued by police and tracked down in DeLand, where he was taken into custody for questioning.
Martinez said he was hurt when the suspected shoplifter tried to get away and run over him.
Martinez was taken to a hospital and treated for a minor leg injury before being arrested and booked into the Volusia County Jail on charges of aggravated assault and shooting into an occupied vehicle.
No one else was seriously injured during the incident.
