VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. — Police believe one man is responsible for two brutal attacks just hours apart on the same stretch of the Daytona Beach Boardwalk.
Jermaine Long is accused of attacking a man with a sledgehammer 10 hours before slashing a teen’s throat on the boardwalk this weekend.
Police say they responded to a total of three calls in one day, all relating to Long. Jail records show he had been out of jail for only four days.
Newly obtained arrest reports show Daytona Beach Police responded to a 7-Eleven on Atlantic Avenue, where Long is accused of hitting a man in the face with a sledgehammer and chasing him inside the store.
According to the report, Long walked up to a man laying outside the store and asked if he had a problem, “to which the man said he did not have a problem with Mr. Long.” The man said that’s when Long began hitting him in the head with the sledgehammer.
Witnesses said the victim ran into the store screaming, and Long had the sledgehammer over his shoulder as if he was about to swing at him again. Police wrote they had enough probable cause to charge him. We’ve asked why he was not arrested at the scene.
Earlier that day, police gave Long a trespass warning after responding to a home on South Hollywood Avenue.
Long is a registered sex offender.
Jail records show Long had been out of jail only four days before the two attacks and the trespass warning. Prosecutors had dropped charges related to another incident involving Long at the same 7-Eleven in January. In that case, he was accused of pulling out a knife and an eight-foot pole at a man.
We asked the State Attorney’s Office why the charges were dropped. A spokesperson said prosecutors are reviewing the January case along with the current case.
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