A suspect in the morning shooting of an Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Deputy is in custody, Sheriff’s officials said on their Facebook page.
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Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Deputy Bill Myers, 64, was shot by Joel Dixon Smith, 33, outside the law office at around 8:20 a.m. and one of the bullets struck him in the back of the head, the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office said.
The deputy, who has been identified as 64-year-old Bill Myers, was transported to the Fort Walton Beach Medical Center where he later died.
Officials say, after an hour and a half of negotiations, Smith came out of his room with a weapon and exchanged gunfire with the OCSO Special Response Team.
More tonight on News 5 at 5PM and 6PM with Debbie Williams.
“Deputy Myers has been a treasured part of this agency’s family since 1989”, said Sheriff Larry Ashley. After retiring in 2013, Deputy Myers was re-hired on part-time basis in January of this year to assist with Civil Process.
Authorities say a Florida Panhandle sheriff’s deputy and a suspect are dead following a shooting outside a lawyer’s office and a standoff at a nearby hotel. As they walked to the parking lot, Smith shot Myers, according to Ashley.
Myers had a wife, three sons and a granddaughter. He said Myers loved photography and had returned to the force from retirement because he wanted to take his family to Disney World.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd is backing a deputy who shot and killed a suspect armed with a stapler on Monday night. Florida’s law enforcement officers risk their lives daily to protect others, and any act of violence against these fearless heroes is shameful and cowardly. “I can’t say enough about this community”.
Ashley said Smith was arrested in a domestic violence case in Walton County in 2008.
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At the scene of the shooting, Wray said he and another man tried to talk to the deputy, but he didn’t respond. According to the Officer Down Memorial Page, there have been 94 line-of-duty deaths since 2015 began.
