Man accused of shooting woman trying to buy shoes, carjacking man to get away in Taft

TAFT, Fla. — A man is accused of shooting two women and carjacking a man outside homes in Taft late Friday evening, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.

One of the women, whom police have not identified, came to the house along the 9600 block of 6th Avenue around 10 p.m. to buy shoes from another woman, deputies said.

The woman left the house with the shoes when a man pulled up and tried to rob her, prompting the other woman to come outside to see what the commotion was, deputies said.

The man then shot both women, deputies said. Their injuries were not life-threatening and firefighters took them Orlando Regional Medical Center.

After shooting the women, the man jumped into a car and drove about 10 feet before crashing it, deputies said.

He got out of the car and tried to carjack a nearby 20-year-old woman. That attempt failed, prompting him to steal a woman’s bicycle nearby.

The man rode the bicycle down 4th Street before carjacking a 49-year-old man who’d left his car running to open the gate to his house, deputies said.

The suspect jumped into the car and fled the scene. Deputies later found the car burning along the side of the road.

Osceola County deputies contacted the Sheriff’s Office to say they believed they’d arrested the suspect, whom deputies haven’t identified, on lesser drug charges.

Investigators are interviewing the suspect and his family about the incidents in Taft, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

Cox Media Group