1 critically injured, 1 arrested after argument over gambling game turned to gunfire: ‘I ain’t meant it bro’
LAKE WALES, Fla. - A Lake Wales man has been charged with attempted first-degree murder after deputies say a gambling game got out of control on Saturday.
According to investigators, Darius Antwan Scarlett, AKA "Pete", walked into the Polk County Sheriff’s Office shortly before noon and said he shot another man following an argument earlier in the day.
Deputies say Scarlett was playing a gambling game with two of his cousins an argument erupted. Scarlett told detectives that his cousins began battering each other and he was struck by one of them when he tried to separate the pair.
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According to investigators Scarlett went outside and got a black 9mm Springfield Hellcat handgun out of his car. He then followed the cousin who struck him to a grey Ford Mustang that was stopped in the middle of Lilly Street. He added that his cousin, who was not armed, tried to hide behind another person as Scarlett pointed the gun at him and said, ‘I ain’t meant it bro.’
Once the person moved, deputies say Scarlett shot his cousin because he was ‘in a rage’ and fled the scene.
When deputies arrived, they found the victim lying in the street with a gunshot wound to his right temple. Investigators say the victim told them that ‘Pete’ shot him before he was taken to Lakeland Regional Health in critical condition.
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Scarlett was arrested after turning himself in. The gun allegedly used to shoot the victim was found on Scarlett’s right rear passenger seat.
The shooting is still being investigated.