Prosecutors: No charges against man who shot and killed Volusia library assistant
Prosecutors will not charge an Orange City motorcyclist who shot and killed a Volusia County library assistant who he said pointed a gun at him following a road rage incident, according to an email from the State Attorney’s Office.
Andrew Derr, 40, of Orange City, shot and killed Sara-Nicole Morales, 35, on Nov. 20 outside her mother’s house in Orange City. Derr said Morales pointed a gun at him, according to reports. Two other men said Morales was waving the gun around, according to reports.
Morales was a library assistant for Volusia County. She was pregnant, her mother said.
Assistant State Attorney Bryan Shorstein, a spokesman for 7th Circuit State Attorney R.J. Larizza, wrote in an email on Tuesday that Derr would not be charged.
“The State Attorney’s Office has completed a comprehensive review of this case. The Orange City Police Department concluded, after a thorough investigation, that the suspect would not be charged with a crime,” Shorstein wrote. “While the facts in this case are truly heartbreaking, the law does not authorize the filing of any criminal charges. Our sincerest thoughts and prayers go out to the Morales family.”
Road rage ends in shooting: Biker says Volusia library worker pointed gun at him before she was fatally shot; witnesses say she waved gun
Fatal confrontation: Police: Orange City woman fatally shot after pointing gun at man
A man who answered Derr's phone on Tuesday hung up after a reporter identified himself. Derr has a concealed weapons permit, according to reports.
Victim was pregnant when she was shot, her mother said
Morales' mother, Doreen Flaherty, said previously that Morales was pregnant when she was killed. She also said her daughter had grabbed her fiancé's gun.
Flaherty said on Tuesday that she was angered by the prosecutors' decision.
She also said both sides made mistakes in the fatal incident, but that Derr should not have followed her daughter home.
“If he had not followed her in the first place there would have been no need for him to feel the need to defend himself,” Flaherty said.
The incident began when Derr tried to pass Morales and she moved her car into his lane, causing Derr to swerve, according to a witness' statement in a report.
Derr then "became aggressive," yelling and waving as he continued to ride next to Morales' vehicle, the witness said in the report.
Morales swerved her car at the biker, the report said. Her vehicle struck the motorcycle's saddle bag, leaving a scuff mark and almost causing the biker to wreck, according to the report.
Derr then kicked Morales' car, a witness stated in the report.
Shooter and two others followed Sara-Nichole Morales home after the confrontation
Derr and two other men, who were the witnesses quoted in the reports, followed Morales to her home on East Wisconsin Avenue in Orange City. Derr later told police he and the other two men were waiting in the road near her house.
Morales ran into her house and came back out with a gun, the report stated. Derr pulled his .45-caliber pistol and shot her dead, according to a report.
"She came toward us and when she was about 15 feet away she raised a gun at me," Derr told police, according to a report. "It was pointed at me. I was scared to death and immediately drew my firearm and defended myself."
Nicolas Hirst, of Deltona, one of the other two men who followed Morales, told police Morales came out of the house and told the men she was on the phone with police, the report stated.
"She then pulled out a gun and waved it at the three of us. I stepped back, said 'calm down' and before I knew it, the male motorcyclist drew his gun and shot the female what sounded like five times," Hirst stated, according to the report.
Cody Drew, 21, of Umatilla, was the other witness who followed Morales.
Drew told police that "lady pulled in driveway of the house and came out to road to talk. Lady pulls a pistol and waves it at me and the guy on the bike and another witness. Guy on bike with black jacket pulls his pistol and unloads his clip on the lady in the blue car," according to the report.
Morales' 11-year-old daughter was inside the house and heard the gunshots that took her mother's life.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Florida man who killed woman in road rage incident won't face charges
