Shooting incident takes life of Dalkeith man
The investigation is continuing in the death of a 19-year-old man killed in a shooting incident Friday morning in Dalkeith south of Wewahitchka.
The Gulf County Sheriff’s Office said 19-year-old John Connor was found deceased at a home at 3160 CR 381, where he resided, when deputies arrived there at 7:44 a.m. CT. The property is owned by Angela and John Connor, according to the Gulf County property appraiser’s office, but they were not at home at the time, said Sheriff Mike Harrison.
Brennan Reh, public information officer for the department, said Connor’s family had called in the morning, first to report a missing person, and then soon after to report that a family member had found a body on the property.
Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s Crime Scene Unit arrived at the scene at 1:13 p.m. Friday.
“We’re treating this as a homicide right now,” said Harrison. “We treat everything as a homicide until we can prove differently.”
The sheriff said a second person had reported to a hospital in Bay County, where he was treated for a superficial gunshot wound and released. “We believe the two incidents are related,” said the sheriff.
As of Monday morning, the sheriff was awaiting the results of an autopsy conducted by the medical examiner.
“We’re working leads, interviewing potential suspects and anyone who might shed light on activities that occurred that night or the next morning,” said Harrison. “It’s going to take a lot of police work.”
“This is a relatively quiet neighborhood in the county,” he said. “One is too many but we’re fortunate here that this is the first homicide since 2019.
“We believe this is an isolated incident amongst a group of people who knew each other,” Harrison said. “My heart goes out to the family and we hope to get them answers and bring the person to justice if it warrants it.”
Connor was a student-athlete in the Class of 2023 at Wewahitchka High School.
Donations to help with Connor’s funeral expenses can be made by visiting the Facebook page of his sister, Zoe Connor.
Meet the Editor
David Adlerstein, The Apalachicola Times’ digital editor, started with the news outlet in January 2002 as a reporter.
Prior to then, David Adlerstein began as a newspaperman with a small Boston weekly, after graduating magna cum laude from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. He later edited the weekly Bellville Times, and as business reporter for the daily Marion Star, both not far from his hometown of Columbus, Ohio.
In 1995, he moved to South Florida, and worked as a business reporter and editor of Medical Business newspaper. In Jan. 2002, he began with the Apalachicola Times, first as reporter and later as editor, and in Oct. 2020, also began editing the Port St. Joe Star.