A mother reporting her son had stolen her vehicle led to a deadly deputy-involved shooting on Wednesday night in Indian River County.
According to the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office, a 48-year-old man was shot and killed by law enforcement officers after he had allegedly stolen his mother’s vehicle and refused to follow deputies’ commands during a traffic stop.
In a news conference with Indian River County Sheriff Eric Flowers, he explained that at around 10 a.m., the 48-year-old suspect advised his mother he was taking her car to get an illegal narcotic that helps people who are withdrawing from drug use.
Flowers continues at 12 p.m., the suspect’s mother made the first call to the sheriff’s office stating that she was frustrated due to her vehicle not being returned. At that time, she did not want to file a police report.
She called back around 4 p.m. to report the vehicle stolen, allowing deputies to enter the stolen vehicle into their license plate reader system. It led to deputies tracking the suspect in the Gifford area near the intersection of 19th Avenue and 38th Place in Indian River County.
A little after 8 p.m., deputies performed a traffic stop on the stolen vehicle, where they came across the suspect, who was driving the stolen vehicle, and another person sitting in the passenger seat.
Flowers said the suspect was “somewhat” compliant with deputy instructions until he was told to get down on his hands and knees. Flowers said that’s when the suspect began to reach into his waistband as if he was searching for a weapon.
Deputies gave numerous commands telling the suspect to show his hands. The suspect disobeyed those commands, leading to a deputy firing a round.
“At that point, the suspect got up, started making more movements, reaching into pockets, reaching into his waistband. Our deputy was retreating, trying to take cover,” Flowers said. That’s when the suspect began to charge at deputies, leading them to fire their weapons again.
Flowers said the suspect was still reaching into his pockets and waistband while the deputies fired at him. Eventually, one of the shots stopped him. The suspect was taken to the Cleveland Clinic Indian River Hospital, where he died from his injuries.
The passenger in the vehicle did not take any shots and is cooperating with the sheriff’s office investigation.
It was learned that the suspect has had 23 felony arrests and eight felony convictions, a lot of them being drug charges. Flowers added that the passenger also has a lot of convictions.
“It’s a tragedy, it’s a terrible situation, but unfortunately, this gentleman put our deputies in a situation where they had to make a choice,” Flowers said.
Flowers said during the news conference that two deputies were involved in the shooting. One of the deputies has been with the sheriff’s office since December of 2024, but has six years of experience at another law enforcement agency. The other deputy involved has been with the sheriff’s office since November of 2021.
Both deputies have been placed on paid administrative leave.
The sheriff’s office has been in contact with the State Attorney’s Office and the Medical Examiner’s Office since the deputy-involved shooting took place. The incident was monitored in real-time by the Real-Time Crime Center, where authorities were able to see every moment that was captured on cameras and dash cams.
At this time, the sheriff’s office will not be releasing the identity of the suspect.
Flowers said the deputy-involved shooting will go to a grand jury. IRCSO described the deputy-involved shooting as a “Suicide-by-cop” situation.
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Source: cbs12
