Law enforcement agencies, officials react to arrest of man accused of shooting Daytona Beach officer

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Following a 56-hour search, police announced the man accused of shooting a Daytona Beach police officer has been arrested and law enforcement agencies are chiming in on his capture.

The Daytona Beach Police Department said early Saturday morning the suspect, 29-year-old Othal Wallace, was found in a treehouse outside of Atlanta with multiple flash-bang grenades, rifle plates, body armor, two rifles, two handguns and several boxes of ammunition.

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Chief Jakari Young said several Daytona Beach police officers were there for his arrest and placed him in Jason Raynor’s handcuffs, the officer who Wallace is accused of shooting and is still critically injured in the hospital. Raynor’s family was notified early Saturday morning of the suspect’s arrest.

“I woke them up to tell them the news, so you can as you can imagine there was a huge sigh of relief,” he said. “I’m hoping they can get a few hours of sleep and now just solely focus on officer Raynor and his recovery.”

Young also said Wallace told authorities after his arrest, “You guys know who I am. You know what I’m capable of. It could have been a lot worse.”

The search for Wallace included local law enforcement agencies as well as federal support, with the Federal Bureau of Investigation joining the search Wednesday night, and those departments have been taking to social media to share that the suspect has been taken into custody.

“I’m extremely proud of this organization for their response to this horrific event. I also want to thank the Volusia Sheriff’s Office because they were with us, pretty much immediately, from the time this incident occurred. They were locked in step with us,” Young said. “Sheriff’s sent out the mutual aid requests and we had agencies from all over Central Florida that responded into the area into parking this manhunt. And I’m extremely grateful to all of them.”

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