TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Gunshot Ends Hospital Standoff

ADVERTISEMENT

By LISA A. DAVIS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 29, 2007

NEW PORT RICHEY - When a Pasco County deputy first spotted him Thursday night in the south parking lot at Community Hospital, the 54-year-old man was sitting on the pavement, a handgun pressed to his chin.

A call went into 911 operators at 6:45 p.m. about a suicidal man in the area of Crafts Street within city limits, off Grand Boulevard not far from the hospital on Marine Parkway. For the next 45 minutes, city police and deputies searched the area looking for a distraught person.

When they found the man, whose name had not been released Friday afternoon, city and county SWAT teams were called in, as were crisis negotiators.

The hospital was partially locked down. About 60 visitors and guests were inside and they were given pillows and blankets to be made comfortable until they could leave. Some were able to leave with a police escort.

A law enforcement perimeter was set up around the entire hospital.

Ten hours later, as sunrise neared and as activity at the hospital soon would be picking up, the SWAT team made its move, Assistant Police Chief Darryl Garman said.

The man who wanted to die seemed determined, refusing to give up as negotiators took turns via cell phone but within view to talk the man down, Garman said.

Nobody else was threatened by the man.

"He did make it perfectly clear in the beginning that he didn't intend to hurt anyone else, especially police officers," Garman said.

At 5:15 a.m. Friday, SWAT members deployed tear gas and prepared to shoot beanbag rounds at the man, in hopes of resolving the incident without injury, Garman said.

"He decided to beat us to the punch, so to speak," he said.

As the tear gas sprayed, the man shot himself in the head.
Community Hospital is not a trauma center, so the man was flown to Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg, where he was in critical condition late Friday.

Police still were trying to find the man's family and figure out why he wanted to die, Garman said.

He didn't think the man had any connection to the hospital. He rode a motorcycle to the scene from his home somewhere in Pasco.

"We're trying to find out why he selected that location," Garman said. "It's a mystery."
Garman said the man's longtime girlfriend has been notified about the shooting. It's possible, he said, that the man was in distress over some work-related issues.

He would not say where the man worked.

The partial lockdown at the hospital was lifted after the shooting.

Reporter Lisa A. Davis can be reached at (727) 815-1083 or ldavis@tampatrib.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT