Two dead including Okaloosa County deputy in shooting

An Okaloosa County (Fla.) Sheriff’s Office Deputy died this morning after the unit’s Special Response Team entered a home on Plymouth Avenue in Fort Walton Beach. The subject inside the house, who had threatened to shoot law enforcement officers, died at the scene, according to a written release from the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Department.

Officers had been dealing with the subject since late Monday afternoon after serving an ex-parte order, a court order for involuntary examination under the Baker Act. The man was taken to the Bridgeway Center, but later transported to Fort Walton Beach Medical Center. He left the hospital but was picked up again by law enforcement. He kicked out the window of a patrol car. Deputies took him back to the hospital but he escaped again.

Early Tuesday morning, deputies learned from a citizen that the subject had apparently barricaded himself in the Plymouth Avenue home with a shotgun. The Special Response Team and Crisis Negotiation Unit attempted to talk him out around 6 a.m. After getting no response, the unit entered the house. The subject shot a deputy who later was pronounced dead at Fort Walton Beach Medical Center. Deputies returned fire and the subject died at the scene.

A news conference will take place at one p.m. at the Sheriff’s Administration Building on 2nd Avenue in Shalimar

Further information will be placed on the agency’s web-site as it becomes available.