Truck crashes into home after driver fatally shot; Gunman sought

PINE HILLS, Fla. — Deputies said someone fired dozens of shots at a truck driving down a Pine Hills neighborhood, killing the driver and sending the vehicle out of control and into a house with children inside.

A mother and her two children, a 4-year-old and a 16-year-old, were in the home on Westbury Drive near Silver Star Road when the truck plowed into its side around 4:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Two people in the truck, Thomas Martin, 20, and Jabaris Kilpatrick, 35, were injured in the shooting, and the driver was struck in the head by a bullet and killed.

“Possibly either he was injured, or dead, or dying when he ran into the home,” said Jeff Williamson, with the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.

The driver has not been identified. He may have just been giving Kilpatrick a ride when he was caught in the barrage of bullets, officers said.

Investigators said the shooting started a block away on the west end of Denson Drive, and witnesses said they heard as many as 50 fast rounds fired off.

“I heard like 30 gunshots. I paused and I probably heard like 20 more,” said one witness, who did not want to be identified. “I knew it was to be somewhere very close because they sounded very powerful. I ran to my child’s room.”

One of the victim’s family members said investigators know who did it, but the gunman hasn’t been caught.

Jabaris Kilpatrick's mother said her son was shot three times, but is alert and talking.

“Hopefully the shooter will be caught in Orange County,” Janice Kilpatrick said.

Another man was in the truck and was also injured, but is expected to be OK.

One of the people who called 911 said the young child was seen with a gash on his head, however, all three people in the home have non-life-threatening injuries and are expected to be OK.

The adult victims were taken to Orlando Regional Medical Center. The child was taken to Arnold Palmer Hospital.

WFTV