A recent shooting in DeLand that left two teenagers dead has prompted criticism of Orange-Osceola State Attorney Monique Worrell, with detractors saying she hadn’t been tough enough on the young suspect who faced a lengthy list of criminal charges prior to the recent murders.
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Keyan Rundell, 17, of DeLand, was arrested Wednesday in the July 28 killing of Dustin Rose, 19, and Samson Campbell, 18. Police say the three teens had met up at a vacant industrial property in DeLand’s downtown that day for unknown reasons, and the meeting ended with Rundell fatally shooting the other two.
Worrell’s frequent foe, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, bashed her over Rundell’s past on social media, suggesting dropped cases previously left the teen free to commit murder this summer. Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood posted that the case “makes you wonder if our justice system held little Keyan accountable from the start maybe, things would have turned out different.”
Worrell, in a press conference Thursday, pushed back, saying she was confident her office had done everything in its power to handle Rundell’s cases as best as it could, but that the teenager was part of larger, systemic problems involving juvenile justice in Florida.
She also noted that prior to the murders, Rundell’s most recent arrest was in Volusia and handled by another prosecutor’s office, not hers.
“This child was 12 when he was in this circuit. The latest incident didn’t happen in this circuit. It happened elsewhere and ironically no one’s talking about that,” she said, “because people aren’t interested in real solutions, they’re only interested in finger pointing.”
Police discovered the bodies of Rose and Campbell around 10:40 p.m. Wednesday after receiving reports of two dead people. Investigators said that all the teens knew one another but have not yet determined a motive for the killings, according to DeLand Police Chief Jason Umberger.
Rundell was apprehended Wednesday by the U.S. Marshals Service at a hotel in Manatee County. Police believe he is the only shooter but are looking to arrest anyone who may have potentially “planned” or otherwise aided him in the crime or the aftermath.
Police said Rose was a student at The Military College of South Carolina and served in the National Guard. A GoFundMe page by his family says he was “a bright star who is dimmed out before his time.” A GoFundMe page put up by Campbell’s family said he had “a huge heart and was loved deeply by his family and friends.”
Records obtained from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement show Rundell had a lengthy history of arrests dating back to 2022, when he was 13 years old, including on charges of burglary, criminal mischief, drug possession, resisting a police officer without violence and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Most of those cases occurred in Orange County, where prosecution would have been handled by Worrell’s office.
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Many of those charges, all from 2022, were dropped or dismissed. However, Rundell was “adjudicated delinquent” in one case for grand theft of a motor vehicle and sentenced to 10 months of community control. A battery charge was filed against him in another case, according to FDLE records, but it is not clear how that was resolved.
Rundell’s most recent arrest, in September 2025, was handled by Chitwood’s agency. Prosecution would have fallen to State Attorney R.J. Larizza, the top prosecutor for Florida’s 7th Judicial Circuit. FDLE records show charges were filed for drug possession and interfering with a school function, though they do not show a final disposition.
Since voters returned Worrell to office in 2024, Uthmeier has repeatedly accused her of neglecting her duties as a prosecutor. In a Thursday X post, he linked to another one where he said her “neglect of duty and incompetence” was a danger to the public and criticized the handling of Rundell’s cases.
“Cases were dropped, adjudicated in juvenile court or reduced to misdemeanors. Now murder,” he wrote. “Unacceptable!”
Chitwood, in his post, listed Rundell’s past charges and said the teen had been been the recipient of a “lack of prosecution” in Worrell’s circuit.
He also referenced Rundell’s arrest in Volusia and said the teen was subsequently placed in a diversion program.
“Now two young men are gone forever and Keyan is facing 2 counts of second-degree murder,” Chitwood wrote. Maybe consequences earlier would have made a difference, he said. “Guess we’ll never know.”
Worrell said the state’s juvenile justice system is “wholly inadequate” to deal with violent offenses committed by children. She said she has advocated reforms for years and has even attempted to meet with the head of the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice, Matt Walsh, but that he had ignored or declined her offers.
“Unless we stop throwing political daggers back and forth with each other and come together to talk about a real solution that can help to make our community safer,” she said, “then we are going to be on the other end of these cameras on a continuing basis talking about the next event that took place.”
Worrell said Uthmeier was making politically motivated remarks without knowing all the facts, and she said it was “disappointing” that Chitwood made an “inflammatory” post about her.