OKALOOSA SHERIFF'S DEPUTY KILLED; SHOOTER ALSO DEAD
OKALOOSA SHERIFF'S DEPUTY KILLED; SHOOTER ALSO DEAD
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FORT WALTON BEACH - An Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office Deputy was shot and killed this morning. His shooter is also dead.
The shooter was a man deputies had picked up Monday afternoon for an involuntary examination under the Baker Act. He had been uncooperative when he was taken to the Bridgeway Center and transferred to the Fort Walton Beach Medical Center where he later escaped.
Deputies found the man and took him back to the hospital, but not before the man kicked out a patrol car window, Michele Nicholson with the Sheriff's Office said.
Early Tuesday morning, deputies learned the man had escaped again and barricaded himself in a home on Plymouth Avenue with a shotgun. The Special Response Team and Crisis Negotiation Unit tried to talk him out of the home using a bull horn because no phone was available.
"He told them he had a shot gun and he would use it," Nicholson said.
The SRT and negotiators got no further response and went into the home about 6 a.m. Tuesday. The man shot a deputy who was later pronounced dead at the Fort Walton Beach Medical Center.
Deputies returned fire and the subject died at the scene.
The Sheriff's Office will hold a news conference at 1 p.m. today.
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