ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — The Orange County Sheriff’s Office says they’ve arrested the suspect in a murder that they later learned was just one of a string of violent crimes.
Deputies responded to the 300 block of Duncan Court just after 6 p.m. Monday for reports of a shooting.
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They arrived to find 62-year-old Oleg Denysenko shot to death.
Investigators say surveillance video showed a black Jeep Grand Cherokee pull into the area with its windows lowered.
Deputies say the driver appears to call the victim over to the car before he’s shot for no apparent reason.
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Minutes later, deputies say the driver of a vehicle matching the same description from the shooting scene intentionally hit another man with the SUV before crashing on North Buena Vista Ave.
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That driver, later identified as 30-year-old Vashawn McLendon, was seen running away from the car armed with a handgun.
According to the sheriff’s office, a third person reported being pistol whipped on Observatory Drive by the same person who had just crashed on Buena Vista Ave.
Later that night around 8 p.m., deputies were called to a home on Hudson Street where a relative of McLendon’s said he’d just arrived acting strangely and covered in blood.
Deputies responded to the home, evacuated the family members, and took McClendon into custody.
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“This horrible violent spree by McClendon, which resulted in the tragic murder of Mr. Denysenko, and serious injury to two others, has no apparent motive,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement. “None of the victims appear to have known McClendon, and there is no explanation detectives have been able to ascertain for these brutal crimes.”
McClendon is in the Orange County jail charged with second degree murder for the shooting of Denysenko, and attempted second degree murder with a firearm with the victim he’s accused of pistol whipping. He’s being held on no bond.
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