Police are searching for a suspect after a gold chain sale turned into an armed robbery outside a local auto shop.
EDGEWATER, Fla. — A Facebook Marketplace sale in Edgewater turned violent when a man trying to sell a one-of-a-kind gold chain was robbed at gunpoint and a fleeing suspect fired several shots outside an auto shop, according to the victim and surveillance video described in local reporting.
The case has drawn attention because it combined an online marketplace deal, an armed robbery and gunfire in the middle of a business area where workers were still outside. The seller, Nicholas Rumbolo, said the suspect stole a chain he valued at $4,500, threatened multiple people with a handgun and then opened fire while running from the scene. No injuries were reported, but the shooting left bullet damage at the shop and turned a routine meetup into an active police search.
Rumbolo said the deal had been arranged through Facebook Marketplace and was supposed to end with a sale of a custom gold chain. Instead, he said, the meeting quickly shifted from a handoff to a robbery. According to his account, the suspect pulled a gun from his waistband, pointed it at him and then at one of the employees near the shop. Rumbolo said he yelled out a warning as the man moved away from the building. He told local television station WESH that the suspect ran past another worker, still aiming the gun, then got about 20 yards from the business before turning back and firing multiple shots toward the structure. The confrontation happened at an auto shop just off Hibiscus Drive in Edgewater, a city in southeast Volusia County. Surveillance footage, as described in the report, captured the suspect’s movements as he fled.
Rumbolo said the shots struck the building and sent fragments or ricochets back toward the people outside. He said one round passed near his waist and another came through at about head level after bouncing off part of the structure. Even with the close call, he said he did not run after the suspect. In his account, the decision was immediate and personal: getting home safely mattered more than trying to recover the chain. The owner of the business, Jonathan Chapdelaine of Jonathan Chapdelaine Automotive, also described the moment as chaotic but said the shop returned to normal operations afterward. What remains unclear is whether the suspect had communicated with the seller for long before the meeting, whether the weapon has been identified and whether investigators recovered shell casings or other evidence that could quickly lead to an arrest. Police had not publicly released a suspect description in the report.
The shooting also underscored how public meetup spots can still become crime scenes in a matter of seconds. The auto shop was being used as the location for the exchange, and people at the business were pulled into the confrontation even though they were not part of the planned sale itself. Chapdelaine said the shop is now back to business as usual, but he also made clear the incident changed at least one policy: the property will no longer be used for Facebook Marketplace transactions. That response reflects the broader impact of the robbery. The stolen item was not a generic piece of jewelry, according to Rumbolo, but a one-of-a-kind chain he believes could surface again if someone tries to pawn it or resell it. He said he would consider buying it back on principle if it turns up. For now, the chain, the gunman and any clear public trail behind the sale remain missing pieces in the case.
As of the latest report, no arrest had been announced and no charges had been publicly filed against a named suspect. The next likely steps are standard for a robbery-and-shooting investigation: detectives reviewing surveillance footage frame by frame, comparing witness statements, tracing any online messages tied to the Marketplace exchange and checking pawn activity for the stolen chain. If officers identify a suspect, prosecutors could weigh counts tied to armed robbery, aggravated assault and firing into or toward an occupied area, depending on how investigators classify the gunfire and where each shot landed. Police also would be expected to test any recovered ballistic evidence and determine whether the same gun was used in other crimes. The timing of any update will depend on whether the online contact information used in the sale leads to a real identity or was created only for the meetup.
The details that stayed with the people at the shop were not just the theft but how close the shooting came to ending much worse. Rumbolo said the rounds missed him by inches. Chapdelaine said the shop has resumed work, but the incident left a visible reminder in the damaged building and a sharper awareness of how quickly a daytime business setting can become dangerous. The scene itself was ordinary until it was not: a seller arriving with jewelry, workers nearby, a camera recording the front area and then a gun drawn in the middle of it all. The suspect, by Rumbolo’s account, knew he was on camera and kept going anyway. That detail may now matter as much as the stolen chain, because the video could provide the clearest path to an identification if investigators can pull a usable image, clothing details or the route the man took as he ran away.
The case remained open Friday, with police still searching for the gunman and the stolen chain. The next milestone will be any public release of surveillance images, a suspect description or an arrest announcement from investigators.
Author note: Last updated April 10, 2026.