The suspect wanted in the DeBary IHOP shooting is in custody.

Written by Kristen Schmutz

Belden Communications News

The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office announced late Tuesday night that Sammy McKnight Jr., the suspect wanted in the shooting outside the IHOP off Dirksen Drive in DeBary on Friday, June 17, 2022, has been apprehended. 

According to the Sheriff’s Office, the shooting occurred during an altercation between two men outside IHOP. McKnight, later identified as the shooter, fled the area in a 2007 Cadillac STS after discharging his firearm. The victim, James Shirley, 36, of DeBary, did not survive his injuries in the shooting and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Members of the Sheriff’s Office arrested McKnight in Daytona Beach with help from the Daytona Beach Police Department’s Crime Suppression Team after a brief foot chase. Deputies transported McKnight to the Volusia County Sheriff’s Operation Center, where he was interviewed before being booked into the Volusia County Branch Jail. 

Sheriff Chitwood will personally deliver the $5,000 reward to the tipster who called in McKnight’s location.