A suspect who barricaded himself in a residential unit of a Kissimmee apartment complex Friday morning kept Osceola County Sheriff's Office crisis negotiators at bay for nearly 11 hours with a gun pointed at his head before he fired the weapon, and deputies returned fire.
A Sheriff's report said the 30-year-old male, who as of yet has not been officially identified, was shot just before 9 p.m., transported
to Osceola Regional and later pronounced deceased.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement has been called to investigate the shooting at The Jamison, located near the intersection of U.S. Highway 192 and Partin Settlement Road.
The man broadcasted the saga on Facebook Live for much of the day, showing him barricaded in the bathroom of an apartment unit; he had a gun to his head much of the time. The series of feeds, which he titled "Today my last day on Earth y'all it's real this time" and "I talked to my sister Tia, This was the best life leaving gift ever man" went viral and reached 20,000 viewers at one point on the account with the name David Bets — the name may refer to the many posts on the account that involve sports wagering.
In the live, Tia, who along with a Sheriff's Office crisis negotiator worked to get him to set aside his weapon and leave the apartment, referred to him as Shuron. "I'm, about to die, they're coming in to kill me, Tia. I'm about to die," he says on the last video. "They want to kill me. I don't want to die ... I'm scared, Tia."
Sheriff's Office spokesperson Kim Montes said the man, who is a suspect in a Thursday battery, barricaded himself in the bathroom of a unit around 10:45 a.m., which is around the time the first Facebook live post began. A statement from the complex noted the man was not a resident of The Jamison.
After the standoff reached nearly seven hours deputies were able to get him to come out by using tear gas around 5:30 p.m.
That just moved the standoff outside, as he threw himself on the ground with the gun still to his head. Montes said his phone died during this time and new phone was brought near him that he moved to, along with cigarettes.
"He's asked deputies multiple times to shoot him, a suicide by police," Montes said.
And just before 9 p.m., the prophesy became reality.
According to the Facebook account, he is from Columbia, South Carolina.
Go to AroundOsceola.com for continuing coverage of this episode. #OsceolaNews
