FDLE and ACSO to investigate deputy-involved shooting of person locked in hotel bathroom with gun
Press release from Alachua County Sheriff’s Office
ALACHUA COUNTY, Fla. – On Monday, January 8, 2024, Alachua County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to the La Quinta Inn at 908 NW 69th Terrace regarding a well-being check. Upon arrival, hotel management advised they had not seen the occupant of a room since Saturday, January 6. Management also stated that they were unable to access the room because the deadbolt was securing the door.
After numerous attempts to get the occupant to open the door by knocking and announcing themselves, deputies requested assistance from Alachua County Fire Rescue to force entry into the room. Deputies cleared the room and located an empty gun holster on the bed. They then noticed the bathroom door was locked. Since the deputies were unable to find the occupant and in order to confirm their well-being, deputies forced open the bathroom door after giving numerous verbal announcements. After forced entry, deputies found the suspect armed with a handgun, who refused to drop the weapon and obey their commands. The suspect suffered a gunshot wound, based on their actions and refusal to obey commands. Deputies immediately rendered first aid and the suspect was transported with life threatening injuries to an area hospital. No deputies were injured.
Based on ACSO officer-involved shooting policies, the investigation into the events and timeline that led to it will be conducted by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. The ACSO Office of Professional Standards will conduct an investigation into whether the policies of the Sheriff’s Office were followed. The deputy(s) involved have been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the parallel investigations.
No additional details will be provided at this time.
He refused to drop his gun after being told to he got what he deserved as far as I am concerned was justified shooting
That’s one way of saying “Sh___, or get of the pot.”
This town/county will build a monument for the nutt (at taxpayers expense).
That’s a well-being check? Don’t bother checking on my well-being, cops.
Would have liked to be a fly on the wall for this one…
“Get off the pot or we’ll shoot!”
Can’t make this stuff up.
Guess he FAFO!
Going to have to pay for those 2 nites as well! Thought she could be slick and just not come out but she will be owing LaQuinta around 175 bucks.
she???
Our leftist governments here, work very hard to obscure facts that affect pronouns or physical descriptions. They still confuse actual M/F sex with “preferred gender”.
The perp is a female.
LEOs too often turn a ‘wellness check” into injuries or death to the person being checked. Our woke leaders should be able to come up with some non-lethal methods (like social workers) for wellness checks. After all, they are the anti police people. Maybe a hose under the door with tear gas.
I tend to agree with the exception of La w Enforcement turning incidents into injuring and killing. Wellness Check are something that forced upon Leo’s. Correct me if I wrong but I believe under Florida Law outside of medical physicians law enforcement are the only other professional that can deem a person a threat and actually hold them against their will under a Baker act or marchment act to prevent them from harming themselves. So this puts law enforcement in a sticky area because no use is going to go into a possible mental issue knowing they are going to have to take a person into custody. They are not goung to send a unarmed doctor into that setting and most doctors will refuse to go into a situation like that. Mentally ill people know when the police show up they are fixing to be taken into custody and held against their will so they are already on edge and some are willing to fight or force law enforcement to defend themselves. They are damned no matter the outcome. If the person threatens police and they are forced to defend themselves and the person dies or us harmed then police are SOBs. If the police wait the person out and the person harms themselves then the police are SOBs for not attempting to force entry and save the person from harming themselves. With mental illness police are unfortunely are forced into that proverbial Catch 22 with no easy solutions.
It was only a couple days, so why didn’t the occupant put a DND note on their door? These days rooms aren’t cleaned until the end of the stays, anyway.
Yes sir buddy boy, times they are a changing. Grand jury here we come.
I wish all of the folks on here could be in this deputy’s shoes and be trying to deal with someone with a gun pointed at them and see just how they’d react.
The person with the gun, refused to drop the gun, now tell me how many of you would have just stood there and done nothing with a gun on you?
The deputy did the right thing, the only thing he could do. I’m sure he’s feeling bad about the whole thing but he shouldn’t, this was a self defense shooting and I’m thankful that it was the deputy doing the shooting and walking away and not the person with the gun.
God bless all our LEO’s.
Deputies could have easily avoided shooting the occupant. A welfare check is not a license to shoot first.
So Harold, do your really expect law enforcement officers to wait until the person fires the first shot. If so, you are not living in the real world. They didn’t sign up to take a bullet before they defend themselves.
Explain to me how you are qualified to determine how a welfare check is suppose to be done? Having done several of these in the pat I can tell you that 99 percent of them go smoothly without violence or any harm being done. It the 1 percent that goes awry. No two welfare check are the same. The family already said that this woman was undiagnosed but was probably on the spectrum for autistic issues. It is a fact that 7 out 10 people who have autism suffer at some point a form of mental issue ranging from anxiety to depression. This situation ended with harm to this woman but given the sketchy information known law enforcement reacted to a armed threat. She apparently went missing was there a BOLO issued, if she had been diagnosed and deemed autistic maybe she would not have been able to get a gun in the first place.
Unfotunely ASO was forced into this situation like so many other police agencies across this country. Even locally I know that ASO, GPD, and UFPD have had to deal with mental health situations where the person forces the officers to protect themselves. I recall several years ago UFPD has a exchange student suffering from mental health issues make threatening statements to law enforcement as well as making statement of hatming himself. When the officers went in that guy was armed with a knife and advanced at the officers. The end result was the guy got shot and but survived. But the public and media crucified the officers. If I remember correctly FDLE investigated that and deemed the shooting justified but I think the department fired a couple of the officers. Hopefully that will not be the case here. This woman forced and upped the ante by pointing a gun at them. But you never know how the liberal media and woke public will react to this.