In New Smyrna Beach, Florida a 62 year-old man was shot and killed when he was playing at a home poker game. Police are still looking for two suspects who are to blame for the death of Dennis Michael Turner. According to the police, two men wearing masks broke into a house where poker was being played by about eight people around 9:30 p.m. Monday night. They had guns and they were demanding money. An argument broke out before the suspects fired multiple shot into the house. One of those shots fatally injured Turner.
Police are not sure if Turner was targeted by the suspects as he drove from his home in Port Orange to New Smyrna Beach which is about 13 miles up the coast. The homeowner, where the shooting took place, was known to host home poker games several nights a week and some neighbors said that some players brought a large amount of money with them. There was a report that this same house was robbed a few months earlier and the robbers made out with upwards to $30,000 in cash and valuables.
The murder is the police’s top priority but they are also looking into the game itself and to see how high the stakes were. The law in Florida says that people can play in a penny-ante game if the game is conducted strictly according with the law. So, if the game is to be legal, the pot can not get any bigger than $10. The homeowner could possibly face charges if the police find that his game breached the law.