Off-duty police officer killed by store clerk ‘having a bad day,’ FL cops say

A convenience store clerk who said he was “having a bad day” killed a customer who was an off-duty police officer, according to Florida investigators.

It happened Monday, Sept. 15, at a Circle K in Ormond-by-the-Sea, and the victim was identified as Edgewater police officer David Jewell, the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office said in a Sept. 15 news release.

Store employee Eduardo Felipe Labrada Machado was arrested on a charge of first-degree murder in the case, the sheriff’s office said.

A motive has yet to be determined, but some of 24-year-old Machado’s relatives indicated he had a mental disorder, officials said.

“David Jewell, 45, walked into the Circle K around 4:08 p.m.,” the sheriff’s office said. “Machado, an employee at the gas station, is shown on surveillance footage walking out of the store soon after the victim walks in. Machado goes to his car to retrieve a jacket, then walks back into the store and shoots Jewell in the head multiple times, killing him.”

Twenty-four shots were fired by the suspect, investigators said at a press conference.

Jewell was not armed at the time, and did not carry a weapon when he was off duty, the sheriff’s office said.

Machado “confessed to the murder” and revealed he had seen Jewell “in the store several times” but did not say if he knew Jewell was a police officer, officials said. He said the two men had argued in the past, but Machado “couldn’t provide any details about the argument,” authorities said.

“He did say he’d seen Jewell with a firearm in the past, and was afraid of him,” the sheriff’s office said. “The defendant said he was having a bad day on his drive to work, and thought about shooting Jewell earlier. When he arrived at work and saw Jewell, he used a handgun he recently purchased to shoot him multiple times at close range. He did not say anything to Jewell prior to shooting him.”

Machado has no criminal history, the sheriff’s office said. His family said he was “diagnosed with a mental health disorder in the past,” but did not have a history of “homicidal threats or anti-law enforcement ideologies,” officials said.

A gun believed to have been used in the killing was found in the the back seat of Machado’s car, investigators said.

He is being held without bond and no attorney information is available.

Jewell was sworn in at the Edgewater Police Department in 2023, the sheriff’s office said. Prior to that, he worked with the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office communications unit, WOFL reports. Edgewater is about a 30-mile drive south from Ormond-by-the-Sea.

“David was a guy that we could rely on for anything, never heard a bad thing about him, and he’s going to be a tremendous loss to the Edgewater Police Department,” acting Edgewater Police Chief Charles Geiger said at a media briefing.

Ormond-by-the-Sea is about a 65-mile drive northeast from Orlando.

This story was originally published September 16, 2025 at 10:54 AM with the headline "Off-duty police officer killed by store clerk ‘having a bad day,’ FL cops say."