A suicidal senior in the Orange City area was stopped from taking his life by the Volusia Sheriff's Office's less-lethal shotgun round, according to a statement issued Tuesday by the agency. The man reportedly had a loaded gun held to his head when law enforcement arrived to intervene.
Bodycam footage of the incident depicts VSO Sergeant Jason Stickels attempting to negotiate with the 87-year-old man to try and get him to relinquish the gun voluntarily. Sgt. Nickels pleaded with the man and tried to assure him the deputies wouldn't hurt him. His efforts were not successful in getting the man to drop his gun.
The man, who was identified as 'Manny' in the footage, at one point seemed to begin walking toward the deputies with his gun. The man wouldn't drop the gun to let deputies approach him. Finally, 41 minutes after the call to dispatch was placed, the man was hit with four rounds from less lethal shotguns. Still standing, he dropped the gun and was swarmed by deputies who began rendering aid and taking him into custody.
A 'less lethal weapon' is one which is designed to disarm or incapacitate a subject with a lower likelihood of killing them. In a law enforcement context, this can include batons, tasers, pepper spray, tear gas, rubber bullets, or shotgun shells with lower-powdered cartridges among others.
Once the man was searched for more weapons, he was placed under protective custody (also known as 'Baker Acting' someone). He reportedly told deputies that he was attempting suicide-by-cop, a method of suicide in which the subject attempts to force law enforcement to kill them in a standoff.
According to the statement, all the VSO personnel on-scene for the incident will be awarded the Medal of Tactical De-Escalation by Volusia Sheriff Mike Chitwood for their handling of the intense conflict.
