Four shootings in Daytona Beach and a separate interstate gunfight rattled one of Florida’s busiest spring break weekends.
DAYTONA BEACH, FL — A chaotic spring break weekend in the Daytona Beach area was punctuated by four shootings in the city’s beachside tourist districts and a separate Sunday gunfight on Interstate 95 that left a South Daytona police officer wounded, authorities said.
What began as a heavily watched spring break weekend with extra patrols and public warnings ended with investigators trying to sort through several bursts of violence across Volusia County. Daytona Beach police said the city’s shootings happened from Friday through Saturday in areas packed with visitors near Main Street and Seabreeze, while Port Orange and South Daytona officers became involved early Sunday in a chase tied to another reported shooting. The immediate stakes were public safety, crowd control and whether a large police presence would be enough to contain disorder during one of the region’s most visible tourism stretches.
Police said the first known shooting in Daytona Beach happened Friday at The Joint bar on Seabreeze Boulevard. Investigators said the episode started with a dispute involving a man and several women. After one woman used pepper spray, a shot was fired. No injuries or property damage were reported there, but police said the suspect was from out of town. Roughly an hour later, another shooting was reported in front of Crunch Fitness. In that case, the victim also was identified as an out-of-town visitor and was taken to a local hospital in stable condition. By Saturday, officials said two more shootings had occurred in the beachside tourist zone. Authorities had not released full details on those incidents by Sunday evening, but they said the four shootings were separate and that all of the known victims were expected to recover.
Police said the violence spilled into a weekend already marked by unruly crowds in the resort district. Daytona Beach investigators said the shootings happened mainly around Main Street and Seabreeze, two areas that draw large numbers of visitors during spring break. Officials also stressed that none of the four shootings occurred directly on the beach itself, even as videos and witness accounts showed people running as officers moved into crowded areas. Investigators have not publicly identified suspects in several of the city shootings, and they have not said whether any of the gunfire was connected to a single group or event. What is clear, officials said, is that the crowds made the situation harder to manage and left investigators piecing together accounts from fast-moving scenes involving visitors, local businesses and police units already stretched across the beachside district.
The most serious injury to law enforcement came early Sunday, after a separate call in nearby Port Orange. Authorities said officers responded at about 6 a.m. to a reported road rage shooting off Country Lane. Police said no one was injured in that initial shooting, but the suspect, identified as 31-year-old Todd Anthony Martin, drove away and officers began a pursuit with help from the South Daytona Police Department. The chase moved onto Interstate 95 near the junction with Interstate 4 and Beville Road, where Martin crashed, police said. According to investigators, Martin then fired multiple rounds, hitting South Daytona Officer Jake Fessenden twice. Officers returned fire and wounded Martin. Police said Martin then ran on foot, tried to take a patrol vehicle and altered the vehicle electronically before it caught fire. Authorities said he eventually jumped from the burning vehicle and was taken to Halifax Medical Center with gunshot wounds and severe burns.
Officials said Fessenden was taken to a hospital for surgery and was later listed in stable condition. Daytona Beach Deputy Chief Tim Morgan told reporters the officer was “in good spirits,” and added, “God was on his side today.” Spectrum News reported that police described Martin as being in critical condition Sunday. Authorities have not yet released a full list of charges tied to the interstate gunfight, and investigators said information remained preliminary as they worked through the sequence of the crash, exchange of gunfire and vehicle fire. Traffic around the Beville Road corridor and the I-95 and I-4 interchange stayed heavily backed up while officers processed the scene. The interstate case is separate from the four Daytona Beach shootings, but together the incidents deepened concern about how quickly spring break crowds can shift from routine nightlife and beach traffic to emergency response.
The weekend’s violence landed despite repeated warnings from local officials that spring break 2026 would be met with aggressive enforcement. A day before the shootings, Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood said deputies and Daytona Beach police would maintain a heavy presence on beaches and roadways. He said visitors who respected the community would not have problems, but added that there would be “zero tolerance” for illegal behavior. Chitwood said last year the sheriff’s office made 25 juvenile arrests during spring break and conducted 718 traffic stops, 38 of which led to criminal citations. Businesses also said they had added staffing and security for the season, reflecting how spring break has become both an economic draw and a public-safety strain for the area. That tension is not new in Daytona Beach, where officials have spent recent seasons trying to keep tourism flowing while deterring street fights, open-container violations, reckless driving and gun violence around nightlife corridors.
The latest unrest also arrived as local policing was already under scrutiny. Earlier in the week, Daytona Beach Mayor Derrick Henry said a circulating arrest video involving one of the city’s officers was “troubling” and that the community deserved answers. Police Chief Jakari Young said the footage was concerning and placed the officer on administrative assignment pending an internal review. That separate episode did not involve the weekend shootings, but it added to a volatile backdrop as spring break crowds built. By Sunday night, investigators in Daytona Beach were still working to sort out motives in the tourist-district shootings, while Port Orange and South Daytona officers continued their investigation into the interstate gunfight. The next milestone is expected to be the release of additional case details, including formal charges against Martin and fuller accounts of the two Saturday shootings that police had not yet described in detail.
For now, officials say the wounded officer is expected to recover, the gunshot victims in Daytona Beach are expected to survive, and the investigations remain active as spring break crowds continue moving through Volusia County into the coming week.
Author note: Last updated March 15, 2026.