ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — The victim of an early-morning drive-by shooting in Apopka was recovering at the hospital Tuesday.
At the same time, investigators were working to determine if he was targeted or if the shooting was random.
Tuesday’s shooting followed a busy Fourth of July when a woman was shot in the head while driving to work, an SUV was riddled with bullets while driving on Kirkman Road and a car was shot up in the driveway of a home near Roger Babson Road and Rhodes Court, officials said.
Tuesday’s shooting involved a 35-year-old man driving north on Orange Blossom Trail near Hermit Smith Road at about 2 a.m., deputies said.
Someone in a dark-colored sedan pulled up next to him and opened fire, hitting the man multiple times, investigators said.
The victim was able to drive toward Apopka where he spotted a police cruiser at the intersection of Second Street and Park Avenue, about four miles from the shooting scene.
The officer called for help and the driver was taken to Orlando Regional Medical Center with what were believed to be non-life-threatening injuries.
Arthur Miller has lived in the neighborhood his entire life. He told Eyewitness News the neighborhood has always been quiet, until recently.
“If it’s in Apopka or anywhere, it’s worrying because there’s so much things that are going on now, in (the) Apopka area, all over,’ said Miller.
A drive-by shooting Monday involving a woman and the shooting of the car in a driveway were believed to be connected, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office said. The only vehicle description of those shootings was that the car was white.
The third shooting involving the SUV had not been linked by law enforcement to the other two.
Investigators did not say if they believe Tuesday’s shooting was connected to any of those on Monday.
Deputies said the shootings are under investigation.
Cox Media Group
