DEBARY, Fla.,None — A woman was shot and killed inside a DeBary Burger King on Monday by her ex-boyfriend, according to the Volusia County Sheriff's Office.
Heidi Shelmire was an employee at the restaurant on Dirksen Drive and Sunrise Boulevard, and deputies said they have the man in custody.
She tried to protect herself inside the Burger King but investigators said she couldn't stop her ex-boyfriend from killing her.
Jesus Morales is behind bars on Monday night, but nothing could help Heidi Shelmire's family from grieving their loss, especially her elementary school-age daughter.
It's the latest in a growing string of brutal domestic violence deaths across Central Florida. Deputies said Morales knew Shelmire worked at a Burger King in Debary.
WFTV learned that Shelmire was working to protect herself long before Monday morning, deputies said.
Well before Morales walked into the Burger King in Debary, his ex-girlfriend filed an injunction against him. Deputies said that didn't stop him on Monday, nor did it stop him when he showed up at the restaurant a previous time.
The fast-food restaurant was busy with customers at the time of the shoting. Timothy White watched Morales emerge from the woods to turn himself in to police just before 11:00am Monday.
"He came out and he just lay down on the ground. They had the guns pointed at him and everything," said White.
A swarm of deputies and a command unit rushed to the scene along Sunrise Boulevard Monday morning. They said Shelmire ran toward the kitchen when Morales shot her. When she fell, he stood over her and fired more shots, deputies said.
It isn't the first time the Debary Burger King has been an issue for the couple. Deputies said Morales stalked Shelmire there before.
"It appears this individual has been arrested before for aggravated stalking in reference, it appears it's in reference to this same victim," said Ben Johnson of the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies said Morales had recently served about four months in jail for aggravated stalking. He showed up at the Burger King on his motorcycle and revved his engine back in April. That violated an injunction that Shelmire had taken out against him since their break-up several months ago.
Morales had only been out a week before he showed up again on Monday. Volusia County deputies said this time it started with far more violent intentions.
"It's just a domestic violence. Inexcusable domestic violence," said Johnson
Deputies said that in his confession, Morales said he'd been thinking about killing Shelmire for six months.
Family members didn't want to speak on camera to WFTV, but they said Morales even stalked their daughter at home.