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Suspect Shot, Killed By Santa Rosa Deputies
July 19, 2010
Authorities have released the name of an armed suspect that was shot and killed by sheriff’s deputies Sunday night in Santa Rosa County.
He was identified as Mark Delane Walker, 41. Five deputies have been placed on administrative leave following the shooting.
The incident occurred at 4472 Tamarind Drive in Pace. According to Sgt. Scott Haines, spokesperson for the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office, the department received two different calls in reference to gunshots coming from a fifth-wheel trailer located on the property. Deputies arrived at 9:15 p.m., with the shooting occurring 39 minutes later at 9:54 p.m.
“Deputies confirmed that the suspect was armed after he encountered deputies while he was armed with a shotgun,” Haines said. “Numerous deputies fired their weapons at the armed suspect. The suspect was later declared deceased at the scene after entry was made into the trailer by SWAT.”
As is normal in all officer-involved shootings, the incident is under investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Authorities have not released the identity of the deputies involved. No further details have been released on the ongoing investigation.
Comments
9 Responses to “Suspect Shot, Killed By Santa Rosa Deputies”
My thoughts are with the family of the victim and also with the deputies and their families. I know one of the deputies. He is a fine man who would not shoot without justification.
REGARDING:
“What is a shame is people’s lack of compassion. I love the service this site offers but it makes me nuts to read peoples assumptions ”
I know what you mean. The man was a person and likely had people who loved him. If he didn’t, that would have been an even greater tragedy. What happened will cause them all much pain.
Still, I wonder if some only have compassion for one and forget the others are people too with people who love them and want them to come home alive. They and their loved ones are at least as deserving of compassion as the one who seems to have caused this situation to escalate. Every comment I’ve read so far shows compassion, mostly for the officers but also for the dead.
As to assumptions, I’m going to assume the officers acted properly until proven otherwise. The alternative is to assume they acted improperly and we don’t have any information indicating so. If only one were involved in a shooting, that assumption would be a bit more questionable but the more who acted the same way, the more likely they were justified.
Other things people say are just guesses. We are all allowed to guess, to wonder, to question, to seek understanding.
To say it looks like a form of suicide isn’t unreasonable. If an adult provoked five people to shoot at him, it is reasonable to assume he understood what was likely to happen.
It’s reasonable to wonder if it were drug related. Drugs–especially including alcohol–mess up people’s minds and reduce their rationality. Other drugs need to be taken to maintain sanity. This looks like an irrational event, so drugs come quickly to mind.
David saying something nice
What is a shame is peoples lack of compassion. I love the service this site offers but it makes me nuts to read peoples assumptions and negativity added to an already tragic situation. It happens all to often on here. If you don’t have something nice to say…………………..just sayin.
REGARDING:
“It didn’t really say, from the article, that he was pointing the gun at the deputies. Just that he had a shotgun when the deputies encountered him”
I wonder things like that but don’t like to second guess life or death situations. A man had already fired a gun, or somebody there had. This man was holding a shotgun, what I call a shoot-in-thar-amongst-’em gun. If it were discharged, people stood a good chance of being killed. (I’ve been told half the casualties at the shootout at the OK Corral were from shotgun wounds, and I think only one person was using one.)
Please consider the statement: “Deputies arrived at 9:15 p.m., with the shooting occurring 39 minutes later at 9:54 p.m.” They obviously didn’t go in with guns blazing if they were there 39 minutes before it reached that point.
We can wonder, “Aren’t there trained negotiators that assist in cases like this?” and know they exist but may not be there. Nothing says they weren’t already trained in such situations. I imagine they were. Test time.
Nonetheless, it WAS late. I’m GUESSING it was dark. It takes a fraction of a second to shift and fire a shotgun. They knew his demeanor, whether he was acting like someone with whom they could reason.
It reads like a whole bunch of them reached the same conclusion at about the same time. Remember, they all had families and friends who wanted to see them come home alive. They decided what it would take to accomplish that goal.
Now they have to live with the decisions they each made, but they are alive to live with them.
David for not pointing a gun at armed people
unless I intend to kill or be killed
suicide by cop.
JUDY….What would you do if you had someone waving around a shotgun at you? Need I say more……KUDOS to our LEO!
so much remains unknown, it seems, right now…my first thought, after reading the story, was…arent there trained negotiators that assist in cases like this?…it didnt really say, from the article, that he was pointing the gun at the deputies..just that he had a shotgun when the deputies encountered him….could have been a suicidal situation…more to come, im sure.
Sad, but good work on the part of the Deputies.
Brandishing a weapon at LEO’s is such a bad idea that most grown ups have reconciled in their minds not to do so.
Doing so in the presence of “numerous deputies” is likely to be a lethal error.
Drug related?
Domestic violence related?
What a shame to traumatize peace officers by forcing them to end a human life.
When the rest of the story emerges, I am sure the deceased will have been proven “wrong,” but deputies must preserve themselves when threatened with deadly resistance.
I wish people would stop shooting at the cops.