A Citadel cadet who also served in the South Carolina Army National Guard has been identified as one of two young men found fatally shot in a vacant lot in Florida, as investigators continue searching for whoever is responsible.
DeLand police said 19-year-old Dustin Rose and 18-year-old Samson Campbell were discovered dead around 10:40 p.m. Wednesday. Authorities have not announced a possible motive, and no suspect has been publicly named. The two victims had been close friends since childhood.
Rose was a student at The Citadel Military College of South Carolina and had returned home during a break while working toward a longtime goal of military service. FOX 35 reported that he had recently joined the South Carolina Army National Guard.
Dustin Rose, 19, a Citadel cadet, was pursuing his childhood dream of serving in the military when he was killed. (GoFundMe)
Investigators released a surveillance image showing Rose and Campbell walking together Tuesday evening. Police have not said whether they believe the pair was specifically targeted.
Authorities previously said family members found the young men after they could not be reached by phone, and one of the mothers may have been among those who discovered them.
Campbell, a DeLand native, had been living in the Chicago area with his aunt, Karen Chobin. She said he had returned to Florida to grieve the recent death of his family’s 8-year-old dog and was staying with Rose’s grandparents while in town.
Childhood friends Dustin Rose, left, and Samson Campbell, right, were fatally shot in a vacant Florida lot as police search for a suspect. (DeLand Police Department)
Rose was in DeLand to help Campbell spread his dog’s ashes, Chobin said.
“It was a traumatic loss. It wasn’t a passing of old age. It was awful. And then for this to be what he’s welcomed with when he goes down there to mourn his loss is devastating,” Chobin said.
Rose’s aunt, Jaimie Scarola, told FOX 35 his life was taken too soon.
“He was willing to go to the front line and fight for our freedom, including the freedom of the one who took him from us,” Scarola said. “You took him away from not only his family, but you robbed an entire country of a future soldier who didn’t get to answer that call.”
Surveillance video shows Dustin Rose and Samson Campbell walking together on Tuesday evening, the day before they were found dead. (DeLand Police Department)
While a suspect hasn’t yet been identified, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant on Saturday night at a home in DeLand with help from the Volusia Sheriff’s Office SWAT team and the FBI’s Safe Streets Task Force, according to FOX 35.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the DeLand Police Department through Crime Watch or to reach the Criminal Investigations Division at 386-626-7400.
