Deputies: Gun stolen from hunting store used in dealership carjacking

21-year-old stole gun from store, used it to steal truck, deputies say

ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – A 21-year old Flagler County man was arrested on several felony charges Tuesday after he stole a gun from a hunting store and then used the firearm in a carjacking at a car dealership, deputies said.

Trenard De’Quane Williams, of Palm Coast, is facing charges of carjacking with a firearm, aggravated assault, grand theft, petty theft and resisting arrest without violence.

He was booked into the County Jail without bond pending a first appearance hearing Wednesday morning.

Deputies responded Tuesday morning to a report of a grand retail theft at a Gander Mountain store on Outlet Mall Boulevard.

Deputies said Williams entered the store, took a Beretta pistol and a box of ammunition and ran out of the store. He then went to the Bozard Ford dealership next door and said he wanted to test drive a pickup truck.

Williams is accused of pointing the gun at a salesman and demanding the keys to a 2016 Ford F-350 pickup truck.

“We never start the day thinking something like this would happen, but we feel incredibly fortunate that we have the capable men and women of the St. Johns Sheriff’s Office who were able to stop the gentleman before he was able to get far with the vehicle," said Jesse Scheff, sales manager of the dealership. 

According to Scheff, Williams had only driven 50 feet before arriving deputies surrounded him at gunpoint.

Cellphone video taken from an eyewitness captured deputies ordering Williams out of the vehicle and then taking him into custody.

“The threat of physical violence is an extreme idea, and it’s not something we’re accustomed to and want to be accustomed to and that’s why we’re so thankful to have a great team that helped us out," Scheff said.

No one was injured in the incident, deputies said. The salesman who was held at gunpoint is doing well, Scheff told News4Jax.

"We’ve talked with him after it happened and we’re now focused on getting back to business and doing what we do here at Bozart Ford and Lincoln," he said.

Detectives with the Sheriff’s Office Major Crimes Unit are continuing the investigation. Additional charges are pending further investigation, deputies said.


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