Incident: Sunday, September 20, 2026, and early Monday, September 21, 2026, in Ormond Beach and Daytona Beach, Florida. Reported by the Ormond Beach Police Department and the Daytona Beach Police Department at a joint news conference on Monday, September 21.
An Ormond Beach police officer was shot in the leg at a Daytona Beach hospital early Monday while guarding a man who had been arrested hours earlier in an attack on an elderly couple, the two departments said.
The sequence began about 4:30 p.m. Sunday at Daytona College on South Nova Road in Ormond Beach. Police said a 79-year-old man and a 74-year-old woman went to the business after an alert from a burglary alarm and found signs of trespassing, including a vehicle and items that did not belong there. Inside the building, police said, the couple found a wallet, an identification card and suspected alcohol. They contacted family members and called Volusia County dispatch.
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Police said a man later identified as Michael Hightower, 40, of Daytona Beach, walked out of the building and got into a vehicle, struck the woman with the vehicle, then got out and hit and kicked both the man and the woman before driving away. Officials said a 911 recording captured the sounds of a crash and a physical struggle in the background.
Officers found the couple on the ground outside the business and both were taken to a hospital. According to the arrest affidavit as reported by FOX 35 Orlando, the two were unresponsive and in “large pools of blood” when officers arrived, were in extremely critical condition and were placed on life support. Police have not released their names, and at the news conference the departments did not release the extent of their injuries.
Police said Hightower fled after his vehicle became disabled and was arrested about an hour later near Clyde Morris Boulevard and Hand Avenue in Daytona Beach. Neighborhood video helped investigators track his movements, police said. He was taken to the police department for an interview and then to a hospital for medical clearance. Police said he had been injured in a crash and had been subdued with a Taser during the arrest.
About 3:20 a.m. Monday, during an MRI, Hightower struggled with officers and reached for the holstered handgun of the Ormond Beach officer assigned to guard him, Ormond Beach Police Chief Robert “Jesse” Godfrey said. Godfrey said Hightower pulled the weapon far enough out of the holster to fire one round, striking the officer in the leg.
Other officers subdued Hightower before he gained full control of the weapon, Godfrey said. Officials described a single round fired, from the officer’s own duty weapon. No hospital staff and no other officers were hurt.
The officer’s injuries were described as non-life-threatening and the officer is expected to make a full recovery, Godfrey said. He said the officer was in good spirits and that family members had been at the hospital.
Ormond Beach police charged Hightower with two counts of attempted felony murder in the attack on the couple. Police said he also faces three counts of battery on a law enforcement officer and one count of assault on a law enforcement officer in connection with the shooting at the hospital. He was booked into jail.
The Ormond Beach Police Department is investigating the attack at Daytona College. The Daytona Beach Police Department is the lead agency investigating the shooting of the officer. Daytona Beach Police Chief Jakari Young said he also plans to conduct a full review of hospital procedures surrounding the incident.
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