SUSPECT IN 2022 INTERSTATE 10 SHOOTOUT SENTENCED TO 50 YEARS IN PRISON
WALTON COUNTY, FLA— The suspect who led Walton County Sheriff’s Office deputies on a multi-county pursuit ending in a shootout is sentenced to half a century in prison.
Dallas Francis, 35, is sentenced to 50 years in the Florida Department of Corrections with a 20-year minimum mandatory sentence for attempted second-degree murder of a law enforcement officer with a firearm, two counts of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, grand theft, and fleeing and eluding.
Francis was the primary suspect in the robbery of a Circle K in Miramar Beach on June 17th, 2022, where he was captured on surveillance video holding the store clerk at gunpoint. After developing Francis as a suspect, investigators attempted a traffic stop to question him near Sue Lane in northern Walton County when a pursuit ensued.
While the vehicle, driven by the store clerk from the reported robbery, fled at a high rate of speed from deputies, Francis fired multiple shots during the 50-plus mile high-speed chase while throwing large amounts of cash from the vehicle.
The pursuit eventually ended in a shoot-out near the 53-mile marker of I-10 when Francis exited the vehicle from the passenger side shooting at Walton and Okaloosa County deputies and Florida Highway Patrol Troopers. Francis was injured as part of the exchange. No law enforcement officers were injured.
Mary Yard, 30, and Francis were taken into custody and brought to the Okaloosa County Jail.
Florida Department of Law Enforcement was brought in to investigate the deputy-involved shooting part of the incident. In October 2022, FDLE and the State Attorney’s Office announced all law enforcement involved in the shooting were deemed justified in their actions.
Deputy Chief Assistant State Attorney, Josh Mitchell handled the sentencing Ginger Bowden Madden, the State Attorney for the First Judicial Circuit, announced Wednesday morning.