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SWAT Responds To Armed Man

Hernando Today Photo by Bob East III

Sheriff's SWAT team deputies gather outside a house on Lagorce Avenue in Spring Hill Saturday. A man armed with a pistol was barricaded in the house for several hours.

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By TONY HOLT, Hernando Today

Published: February 2, 2008

SPRING HILL - SPRING HILL - Helena took the garbage out shortly after 9:15 a.m. Saturday.

She glanced to her right across the empty lot and noticed one of her neighbors was standing outside.
He was not carrying anything, nor did he look frightened, angry or excited.

Thirty minutes later, deputies knocked on Helena's door and told her to evacuate her house. Her neighbor – possibly a former police detective – was running in and out of the house armed with a gun, authorities said.

"They told me I had to leave," said Helena, who declined to give her last name. She stood at the corner of Augustine Road and Lagorce Avenue with two of her neighbors for several hours while deputies worked to end the suicide scare.

The gunman's name was not released by the sheriff's office, but neighbors told Hernando Today the homeowner was Ron Woods, 46, a former detective with the Brooksville Police Department.

A background check revealed Woods' address is 11483 Lagorce Ave, which was where the five-hour standoff occurred. He also is a former Pasco County Sheriff's detective. Hernando County property tax records also confirmed the house belongs to Woods.

A swarm of deputies arrived at the house as the gunman's family waited down the street. All of them declined to speak to the media.

A SWAT van was at the scene along with a Spring Hill Fire Rescue ambulance. Approximately two dozen Hernando County Sheriff's cruisers were parked in the area, including one at every nearby intersection. Traffic was not allowed through.

SWAT members with high-powered rifles were seen on the roofs of the houses located along the 11400 block of Lagorce.

The gunman remained in his house with his pit bull for approximately five hours before the standoff ended. He was escorted outside donning a baseball cap, a dark blue shirt and jeans. No one was injured.

Florida's Baker Act allows for involuntary examination of someone believed to be suffering from a mental illness. It can be initiated by a judge, health professionals or law enforcement. Deputies followed the Baker Act procedure immediately after the gunman was taken into custody, authorities said.

Dispatchers said police and rescue units were told to leave the scene shortly before 2:30 p.m.
"What's wrong all of a sudden?" asked Michelle Sylvia, who lives less than two blocks away from where the standoff took place. Last month, a large drug bust occurred less than two blocks from her house.

"This is such a nice neighborhood," she said as she washed her sport utility vehicle in her driveway. "Spring Hill used to be so quiet."

Residents in the neighborhood said they were astounded when they walked outside of their homes and noticed a fleet of patrol cars parked along their street. No one in the subdivision heard any sirens or commotion.

A Hernando County Sheriff's spokeswoman would not provide any details, but said there was someone in the house with a gun who was a "threat to himself." She would not confirm the man's name or whether he was a former police officer.

According to transcripts from a May 2002 Brooksville City Council meeting, Woods resigned from the police department for "health and personal reasons."

Police Chief George Turner, who has only been with the department since September 2007, said he had never met Woods. He offered no further comment.

Hernando Today photographer Bob East contributed to this story.

Reporter Tony Holt can be reached at 352-544-5283 or wholt@hernandotoday.com.

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