Daytona Beach McDonald's shooting: Man claims self-defense in apparent road-rage incident

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The Daytona Beach Police Department released the initial incident report, as well as 911 calls made Sunday following an apparent road-rage shooting outside a McDonald's restaurant in Daytona Beach, Florida.

The shooting happened around 8 p.m. in the McDonald's parking lot on LPGA Blvd., according to Daytona Beach Police.

Brian Nickolas Collins, 31, was shot in the chest and died in the parking lot, police said. The suspected shooter, a 40-year-old man, said he feared for his life and pulled the trigger in self-defense.

Police have not made any arrests or announced charges in the investigation so far. FOX 35 is not naming the person who fired the gun as he has not been arrested or charged with a crime.

According to the incident report, police responded to the McDonald's at 8:06 p.m. and found a woman actively performing CPR on a man, later identified as Collins. Collins was pronounced dead at 8:15 p.m. - nine minutes later.

Several people made 911 calls immediately after the shooting, including Collins' girlfriend, witnesses, and the man who said he fired the gun. Collins' girlfriend, sister, and mother spoke to FOX 35 on Tuesday.

According to the incident report, which is partially redacted, a man pulled into a parking spot at McDonald's to let Collins pass him. As the man pulled back out of the parking spot, Collins stopped his vehicle suddenly, blocking the other man's vehicle from moving forward.

The report said Collins got out of his vehicle and walked towards the other man's vehicle, and punched the driver through his window. The other man, claiming Collins had a knife, shot Collins one time.

"The guy attacked me in the parking lot. I had to defend myself. I had to defend myself," he told the 911 dispatcher.

"I was trying to park. He just jumps off, jump off his car. He said I will (expletive) you up. I will (expletive) you up. And he hit me. He ran to my door. He hit me. I made one shot. Made one shot. I'm so sorry. I had to do that," the man said.

After the shooting, the man put the gun in the back of his trunk and called 911, police said. He was briefly detained – not arrested – while officers secured the scene, the report said. The gun was found in the trunk of his vehicle, according to the report.

Family: ‘A kind soul’

On Tuesday, Collins' mother, sister, and girlfriend talked with FOX 35's Chris Lindsay about him and the shooting.

Collins girlfriend, Cassie, said the two went to McDonald's to get dinner for their kids.

"We were just trying to get dinner for the kids," she said.

She said there was a moment where the two vehicles collided. Then, everything escalated.

"It was a 20 to 30 second window. Before I could even reach for the door handle, it happened," Barnette said, referring to the shooting.

"I got out and ran over to him and tried everything I could to save him," she said.

They remembered Collins, a father of 10, as a kind and bright soul.

A ‘stand your ground’ case?

Under Florida law, people can use nondeadly or deadly force to protect themselves if they fear imminent death, great bodily harm, or a "reasonable fear" of either.

Here is the first section of Florida's stand your ground law:

A person who is in a dwelling or residence in which the person has a right to be has no duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground and use or threaten to use:

(a) Nondeadly force against another when and to the extent that the person reasonably believes that such conduct is necessary to defend himself or herself or another against the other’s imminent use of unlawful force; or

(b) Deadly force if he or she reasonably believes that using or threatening to use such force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the imminent commission of a forcible felony.

(2) A person is presumed to have held a reasonable fear of imminent peril of death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another when using or threatening to use defensive force that is intended or likely to cause death or great bodily harm to another if:

(a) The person against whom the defensive force was used or threatened was in the process of unlawfully and forcefully entering, or had unlawfully and forcibly entered, a dwelling, residence, or occupied vehicle, or if that person had removed or was attempting to remove another against that person’s will from the dwelling, residence, or occupied vehicle; and

(b) The person who uses or threatens to use defensive force knew or had reason to believe that an unlawful and forcible entry or unlawful and forcible act was occurring or had occurred.