A man being served with a domestic violence injunction opened fire outside an attorney’s office in Shalimar, Florida, on Tuesday, killing a sheriff’s deputy, before being shot to death by officers after a standoff at a hotel, police said.
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At a news conference Tuesday afternoon, Okaloosa County Sheriff Larry Ashley announced that Deputy Bill Myers has died from multiple gunshot wounds in the back. After he was served, Smith told the Myers he had weapons in his vehicle and then shot him as he walked away to investigate.
Investigators say the suspect in the shooting, 33-year old Joel Dixon Smith of Magnolia Beach RV Park, Navarre in Santa Rosa County, then drove to the Comfort Inn and Suites, 148 John Sims Parkway, in Niceville, where he barricaded himself inside a room.
When a special response team fired tear gas into the room, which Smith had previously rented, he charged out with a weapon and was fatally shot, Ashley said.
Myers had come back to work to earn a little money to take his granddaughter to the theme park, the sheriff said.
Smith had been arrested for domestic battery in 2008, Ashley said, without providing further details. The unidentified officer underwent surgery mid-morning, according to Sheriff’s Office Spokeswoman Michele Nicholson said.
“Deputy Myers has been a treasured part of this agency’s family since 1989”, Ashley said in the press release.
Wray said he initially thought there had been a robbery at a nearby Dollar General store. Officials say 34-year-old Dominic Fuller, who was suspected in a shooting earlier this month, fled on foot as deputies approached. That’s when another woman screamed that the man was the shooter. “I just couldn’t believe any of it”. Myers’ gun wasn’t in his holster, the sheriff said. “I didn’t want to get anybody hurt, so I went back”.
At the scene of the shooting, Wray said he and another man tried to talk to the deputy, but he didn’t reply. “I cradled his head for a while”. All of the guests were woken up to be escorted safely from the building, including an Arizona man named David Bump.
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The officer was taken to the Fort Walton Beach Medical Center. “When they brought the guy out, he was on a gurney with his face covered”. Smith listed himself as Native American on one voter registration and white on a more recent one.
