PORT ST. JOHN, Fla. — The Brevard County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a shooting in the pickup line of Challenger 7 Elementary in Port St. John.
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Deputies responded to the area of Balfern Street in Port St. John shortly before 1:30 p.m. after receiving reports of a man in a car who had been shot accidentally. They arrived and secured the scene before finding the man already dead from an apparent gunshot wound.
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Deputies from the Brevard County Homicide and Crime Scene Units responded to the area and have begun the process of interviewing potential witnesses and collecting evidence that might shed light on the sequence of events leading up to the shooting.
“I want to reassure our citizens and especially our parents that this was an isolated incident that was completely contained inside a vehicle and while the occupants were in fact, headed to the nearby school to pick up their grandchild,” Sheriff Wayne Ivey said in a statement. “They were not at the school or on school property when the incident occurred.”
Ivey’s statement went on to commend the security partnership between the sheriff’s office and Brevard Public Schools, enabling them to quickly initiate a lockdown at the school as the shooting happened while kids were being dismissed.
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WFTV has reached out to Brevard County Public Schools for comment, they said “the school was placed in a Shelter in Place for law enforcement activity in the area. The SIP caused the school to pause dismissal for the day. The SIP has been lifted. Our understanding is this happened off campus.”
Deputies are asking anyone who may have additional information about the incident to contact Agent Samantha Grimes of the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office Homicide Unit at (321) 633-8413 or CRIMELINE at 1-800-423-8477.
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