For the second time in less than a year,

Death becomes 2nd fatality in 7 months after ‘oversold’ party

a large, “oversold” DJ party in Lake County leaves a person dead.

LEESBURG — For the second time in less than seven months, a man is dead after a promoter “oversold” tickets to a venue in Lake County that gathered hundreds of partygoers, this time from a hit-and-run that left a 27-year-old Ocala man pinned under a pickup truck and the motorist fleeing on foot, authorities said.

Leesburg Police are searching for the driver of a 2018 silver Chevrolet pickup that pinned Michael Roberts underneath it about 1 a.m. Saturday at the Lake Square Mall after an event called Hang Out Fridays let out 300 people to hundreds more waiting impatiently outside, according to police. Roberts was airlifted to Orlando Regional Medical Center, where he died.

“It was a mob-like situation,” Leesburg Police Lt. Joe Iozzi said Monday. “They [security and off-duty officers] got everything calmed down, and at some point, the parking lot was packed and this truck accelerated … ”

A similar situation occurred last summer at an entertainment venue off Old Highway 441 in Mount Dora, where more than 1,000 people gathered from all over Florida to a venue that could hold no more than 500. After that event — promoted as “the biggest party in Central Florida” — Steven Charlostin, 22, of Orlando, was found shot to death in his car a few blocks away.

In both cases, critics have pointed the finger at promoters for overselling tickets to the venues, but others say promoters have followed the rules, and youth in the rural areas of Central Florida are desperate for an outlet for fun.

“Lake County has very limited places for young adults to go, that’s why everybody drives to Orlando,” said Leesburg City Commissioner John Christian, who is also pastor of the Christian Worship Center in Leesburg. “Because there’s no place to go.”

Christian said the promoter, David Peter Ward, who grew up in Leesburg, was involved in his church.

“David has gone to the city manager; he’s done things the appropriate way … he had security; he had police,” Christian said. “There’s just a huge need

and demand for that type of engagement.”

Ward did not respond to a request for comment. Neither did Via Entertainment, which hosted the event.

Diaunte McDuffie, 23, who promoted the “Project X” party in July at the Mieluz Grand Hall in Mount Dora, said the event that ran from 10:30 p.m. Friday to 2:30 a.m. Saturday was fun and safe.

“I’ve never been to it before … Inside the place was wonderful and fun, outside I was caught in the traffic myself so I didn’t see anything,” he said in a text message. He said he promoted the event on social media but wasn’t officially involved with it.

Like Project X, Hang Out Fridays left many people ready to enjoy their weekend frustrated after they were told, ticket in hand, that the event couldn’t take anymore people.

“You can not I repeat not go in Via Entertainment before 10:30,” Ward wrote on his Facebook.

Iozzi said people ready to party descended on the venue, located in a former Target store that closed in 2014, in large numbers.

“They were trying to get in the door,” he said. “Three officers were assigned [working off duty] and called for immediate assistance from the road patrol that was working. Several deputies came, too.”

The pickup struck a second pedestrian, Matthew Wilkerson, 26, of Citra. He refused medical assistance. The driver fled the scene and another man, Carlon Webb, 25, fled the vehicle, dodged a police taser and tried to enter a car before he was apprehended by police, a report said. Police don’t believe Webb was the Chevrolet’s driver.

Hang Out Fridays had other events at Via Entertainment before without incident except “quite a few noise complaints,” Iozzi said. He said Leesburg Police insisted on more security at the event Friday.

Anyone with information about the pickup driver is asked to call police at 352-787-2121.