3 injured in east Winter Garden shooting

WINTER GARDEN –– Three people were shot after an argument escalated into violence Friday, May 26, Winter Garden Police said.

The shooting happened around two in the morning in front of a home at the corner of Bay Street and Bethune Avenue where a block party was being held following a funeral. 

The argument turned to violence when someone shot at one of the people involved in the argument, who was standing in the middle of a crowd. Three people were shot and transported to a hospital to receive medical treatment. 

"At some point, several subjects were in an argument near the intersection of Bay Street and Bethune Avenue," police said. "One half of the argument walked away into Winter Garden jurisdiction, to 629 Bethune Avenue (Southeast corner house) where the other subjects involved followed and eventually shot at one of the victims, who was in a crowd of people.”

According to police, the gunshot victims included 24-year-old Donald M. Rodgers, who was treated at the hospital and released the same date of incident, 22-year-old Johnathan M. Hightower, who was treated for his gunshot wound and is now in stable condition and 28-year-old Dante J. Horne, who is currently in critical condition.

Winter Garden Police said they have recovered a vehicle that witnesses identified as being involved in the incident and have conducted several search warrants as part of their investigation. Detectives are still working on identifying the roles of each person involved, as well as the gunshot victims but they encourage anyone with information regarding this incident to contact either Crimeline, the department at (407) 656-3636, or Winter Garden Detective Dave Clarke at (407) 877-4876.

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Contact Gabby Baquero at [email protected]