VIDEO: Suspect In Deltona Drive-By Shooting Identified, Arrested

Date Added: November 16, 2018 1:22 pm

Andrew Gant
Office of Public Affairs & Media Relations

SUSPECT IN DELTONA DRIVE-BY SHOOTING IDENTIFIED, ARRESTED 

12-year-old was inside when shots were fired; his father's girlfriend is also charged with tampering with evidence

The suspect in a drive-by shooting last month in Deltona was taken into custody today on charges of attempted second-degree murder.

Michael Dennis Lawson Jr., 28 (DOB 7/10/1990), was arrested at 1951 W. Nemo Drive in Deltona by members of a U.S. Marshals task force, Volusia County Sheriff’s Office detectives and K-9 deputies.

The shooting happened around 9:40 p.m. Oct. 13 on the 1200 block of Buccaneer Avenue in Deltona, where a home was shot several times (at least nine) through the front door and window. A 12-year-old child was playing Fortnite in the living room at the time, but wasn’t injured. However, with bullet holes found inside the home, detectives believe multiple gunshots narrowly missed him.

Detectives believe Lawson shot at the house in retaliation for the adult residents of the house intercepting a UPS package that supposed to be delivered to him.

The parties involved in the case were not overly cooperative with the investigation. Gabrielle Lombardi, 24 (DOB 12/18/1993), the girlfriend of the resident whose 12-year-old son was inside the house at the time of the shooting, was charged with tampering with evidence after she deleted video evidence of the shooting from her Ring security camera account. Lombardi was also charged with providing false information to law enforcement during a felony investigation.

The Ring video of the shooting was retrieved and is available here.

Three photos of Lawson are attached. One photo (Lawson standing next to a refrigerator) was posted on social media shortly before he was taken into custody Friday. Another shows Lawson holding an AK-47 and ammunition which matches that which was used in the shooting. Shell casings were recovered from in front of the house and from inside Lawson’s rented vehicle.

Lawson was charged with attempted second-degree murder with a firearm, shooting into an occupied dwelling and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He was transported to the Volusia County Branch Jail, where he was being held on $150,000 bail Friday afternoon.