‘Drug deal gone wrong’ possibly sparked deadly Ocala shootout, police chief says

Ocala Police Chief Michael Balken has provided more information after a shooting over the weekend left one person dead and two others hurt.In a release, police said the incident happened around 2 p.m. on Sunday, when patrolling officers near NW 11th Street and 12th Avenue heard gunfire from a nearby residential area. Upon arrival, they found one person shot to death, with another suffering from several gunshot wounds.At the same time, police received reports of a hit-and-run crash involving multiple vehicles near College Road and Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, Balken noted.As it turns out, one of the vehicles in the hit-and-run was tied to the homicide case, and officers ultimately took the driver into custody, investigators said.[RELATED: 1 dead, 2 injured in Ocala shooting, police say]“It was later confirmed that this vehicle had just left a local hospital after dumping off a third gunshot victim, just before the crash occurred,” the release reads. “Ultimately, there were three gunshot