Inset: Eduardo Labrada Machado (Volusia County Sheriff’s Office). Background: The Circle K where Machado allegedly gunned down an off-duty police officer (WKMG).
A 24-year-old clerk at a Florida Circle K has been arrested after confessing to killing an off-duty police officer inside the store this week, authorities say. Eduardo Machado allegedly ambushed the victim from behind and shot him multiple times, telling officers that he had been having “a bad day.” Machado was taken into custody on Monday and charged with one count of first-degree murder in the slaying of 45-year-old Edgewater police officer David Jewell, authorities announced.
According to news releases from the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office, the fatal incident took place at about 4:08 p.m. inside the Circle K gas station in the 2400 block of Ocean Shore Boulevard in Ormond-by-the-Sea, Florida, about 65 miles northeast of Orlando.
In surveillance footage from inside the store, Machado is shown walking out of the front door just after Jewell entered, according to police. Outside, Machado is shown going into his car to retrieve his jacket, “then walks back into the store and shoots Jewell in the head multiple times, killing him,” police said.
Jewell died at the scene.
“The video is probably something that in 38 years of law enforcement, that I can tell you – it’s unbelievable what you see in that video,” Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood said of the surveillance footage showing the murder.
Love true crime? Sign up for our newsletter, The Law&Crime Docket, to get the latest real-life crime stories delivered right to your inbox.
Jewell was with his father-in-law when he went to the store “to get a hot dog” and was waiting at the register to pay when Machado “walks up behind him” and opens fire, Chitwood said during a news briefing. After Jewell hit the floor, Machado’s gun jammed, according to Chitwood. Footage shows that Machado then “stands over the top of him, clears the gun, and then probably fires another seven or eight shots” into Jewell’s head.
Authorities initially said that Machado and Jewell knew each other, a fact that Machado later confirmed in an interview with investigators.
“The defendant confessed to the murder,” the sheriff’s office wrote. “He stated he’d seen Jewell in the store several times, and believed he had an argument with him at some point in the past.”
Authorities said Machado could not provide any details about the prior argument and did not indicate he knew the victim was a police officer or if he had ever seen him in uniform. Machado allegedly did tell authorities he had previously seen Jewell with a firearm and was “afraid of him.”
The suspect also told investigators that he was in the midst of a “bad day” before he shot Jewell.
“The defendant said he was having a bad day on his drive to work, and thought about shooting Jewell earlier,” the release states. “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 does not have a criminal record, but interviews with his family revealed that he had been diagnosed with a mental health disorder in the past and had “indicated he was hearing voices.” The family described him as quiet and said they were unaware of any “homicidal threats or anti-law enforcement ideologies on his part.”
His only prior encounter with law enforcement was in 2023, when there was a weapons complaint about him shooting guns at Tomoka State Park, authorities said.
