UPDATED - 02/05/17: Man Dead After Shooting Near Orange City

Date Added: February 04, 2017 10:20 pm

Gary Davidson
Public Information Officer

UPDATE: 02/05/17 - 9:12 a.m.

He claimed it was self-defense. The problem for 56-year-old Fredrick Griswold is that the fight was over when he pulled out a gun Saturday night and fatally shot his nephew. Early Sunday morning, Volusia County Sheriff’s detectives charged Griswold (DOB: 1/3/61) with 1st-degree murder. Griswold is under guard at the hospital, where he’s still being treated. The victim is 28-year-old James Lorefice.

Lorefice and his mother had come to Griswold’s home on Charles Avenue earlier on Saturday, and both Griswold and Lorefice were drinking. At some point, an argument broke out between the two in the garage and then moved into the house. Witnesses told detectives with the Sheriff’s Office’s Major Case Unit that Lorefice tried to punch his uncle before slamming his body into a china cabinet and then into a coffee table. Griswold also had claimed that his nephew had a knife. According to witnesses, Griswold went to his bedroom while others tried to calm the situation. All of a sudden, Griswold emerged from his bedroom armed with a handgun and fired multiple times, with at least one round striking Lorefice. Lorefice was pronounced dead at the scene. Based on the information developed in their investigation, detectives charged Griswold because the fight was over and he wasn’t actively defending himself when he shot the victim.

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MAN DEAD AFTER SHOOTING NEAR ORANGE CITY

A family argument Saturday night at a residence near Orange City sparked gunfire that left one man dead.
 
Officers were dispatched to a residence in the 400-block of Charles Avenue just west of Orange City after the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office received a call about the shooting at 8:16 p.m. An Orange City police officer was first to arrive at the scene at 8:21 p.m., followed less than a minute later by Volusia County Sheriff’s deputies. When officers arrived, they found one man dead inside the residence and a second man bleeding from a head laceration. The man with the head wound was the shooter and the victim was his nephew. The injured man has been taken by ambulance to Florida Hospital Fish Memorial in Orange City for medical treatment.
 
Volusia County Sheriff’s detectives are on scene sorting out the events that led up to the shooting. Initial reports indicate that the two men got into a verbal argument that turned physical, prompting the uncle to retrieve a handgun and shoot his nephew inside the house. Sheriff’s detectives are interviewing witnesses to determine what sparked the argument and how the uncle sustained the head wound.