Shane McGarity is charged with first degree murder for a particularly violent murder in November 2022. (Orange County Corrections)
A Florida man has been arrested for the violent murder of another man who was stabbed at least 25 times last fall, police said Friday.
Shane McGarity, 46, is charged with one count of first-degree murder with a weapon and robbery with a deadly weapon, the Winter Park Police Department said in a news release.
In the late afternoon of Nov. 11, he called 911 to seek medical attention for himself, according to police records.
“I have no comment other than I was attacked, and I defended myself, and I am cut, bad,” he said during the 911 call, according to an excerpt from a application and affidavit for his arrest warrant. “I got badly cut with a knife. I need… I need paramedics. It’s bad; I almost cut my finger.
During the wave of violence, the dead man, a McGarity family member whose identity cannot be released under Sunshine State victim protection laws, was stabbed in multiple places on his body. First responders described his injuries as “incompatible with life” and called the police.
The affidavit contains a stark, graphic depiction of the gruesome scene of law enforcement found inside the residence upon their arrival:
The deceased was in the living room in a recliner in a slightly reclined position. The deceased was slumped in the chair so that his back was on the chair seat and the deceased’s waist was on the edge of the chair where he met his reclining foot part. The deceased was slumped on his right side so that the deceased’s right cheek was facing the seat of the chair. Detective Woehr observed a knife handle protruding from the head area with the entire portion of the blade embedded in the left eye. The deceased’s right arm was bent so that his right hand touched his left cheek.
The document refers to a small hammer found in the dead man’s hand. Police believe the hammer was “loosely” placed on the victim’s body after the murder.
According to the affidavit, the defendant also changed his story by speaking to someone other than the police, telling a man identified as “Brother” that an unknown intruder broke into the house and killed the victim.
“McGarity is known to be a trained fighter with an extensive knowledge of martial arts,” the document states. “It should be noted that the defendant McGarity has killed an individual in the past, which he claims was self-defence, and he has not been prosecuted for this prior incident.”
The number and type of injuries to the victim also suggest he was murdered, police wrote in the affidavit.
“The pattern of injuries and the evidence at the scene are consistent with the stab wounds that occurred while the descendent [sic] was sitting/lying in the recliner,” the document reads. “Due to the subarachnoid hemorrhages on both sides of the brain and the severe subdural hemorrhage, it is reasonable to believe, based on the deceased’s injuries and the physical evidence, that the deceased was unconscious in the recliner. , leaving him defenseless as he was fatally stabbed.
Ultimately, police dismissed McGarity’s claims of self-defense.
“Based on the facts above and his multiple stories, it is not reasonable to believe that the defendant Shane Kelly McGarity is acting in self-defense,” the affidavit states. “[H]We landed several blows on the deceased to the point where the deceased’s ability to retaliate was greatly diminished. Defendant McGarity used a knife to cut and stab the deceased twenty-five (25) times. Defendant McGarity killed the deceased by embedding the knife in the left eye, which penetrated the brainstem of the deceased and instantly killed him. The repeated blunt trauma and the twenty-five (25) stab wounds show an intent to kill. »
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