Incident in US-FL

On July 22 approximately 8:40 a.m., a 33-year-old deputy sheriff with the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office (OCSO) was shot and killed while participating in a tactical situation in Fort Walton Beach involving a man whose family was attempting to have him placed in a hospital for psychiatric examination. The man had suffered some mental problems since the death of his father several months prior to the incident on July 22. His family had attempted twice on the previous day to have him involuntarily placed under psychiatric observation, but he had left the hospital twice on his own. He had proven to be verbally abusive and uncooperative to law enforcement and hospital staff involved in both episodes. After the second time he left the hospital, he returned to his father’s house. A family friend in the neighborhood reported contact with the man to his family, and neighbors reported seeing suspicious activity near the property in the very early hours of July 22. They notified authorities that someone appeared to be in the vacant house. When OCSO deputies arrived on the scene, the man’s brother was waiting in a pickup truck at the house. He informed the deputies he and his companion could hear his brother moving about in the house and that his brother had a shotgun in his possession. Deputies searched the area around the residence, set up a perimeter, and attempted to make contact with the man. A second brother of the man arrived on the scene, confirmed that his brother was armed, and provided a key and gave consent for the deputies to enter the residence. At 4:20 a.m., both a Special Response Team (SRT) and a Crisis Negotiation Unit were called out. Details of the case were discussed and further information dispersed, including that the man was no longer in possession of a mobile phone and the house had no phone service. After further efforts to contact the man failed, the decision was made to send in the SRT using a “stealth” entry and quietly conduct a welfare check on the man. The SRT entered with the key and, initially, behind a ballistic shield. The team then moved slowly and methodically through the rooms of the house. The victim deputy, who had 4 years of law enforcement experience, began to search a second bedroom. As the victim deputy and another deputy began to slowly open the door to the room, the second deputy saw a muzzle flash and heard a shot right before the victim deputy fell backwards. The second deputy returned fire. As the second deputy moved, he observed the shooter crossing the room with a 12-gauge pump-action shotgun. The deputy continued to fire as the suspect dove into a closet. The deputy moved a little further into the doorway and saw the suspect lying on the floor of the closet. Officers began administering aid to the victim deputy who was mortally wounded in the neck above his protective vest. Emergency Medical Services (EMS) personnel transported the deputy to an area hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. The EMS also evaluated the condition of the suspect and established that he was dead on the scene. Laboratory analysis later determined that, although the 47-year-old suspect suffered several wounds, the fatal shot was a self-inflicted one from his own shotgun.