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Man Dies After Officer Involved Shooting
April 12, 2014
A man has died following an overnight shooting involving an Escambia County Sheriff’s deputy.
About 3:15 a.m. Friday, deputies responded to the 3000 block of Bent Oak Road in reference to suicidal threats. Thomas Eugene Fillingim, had been reported earlier as missing, armed and suicidal late Thursday night had returned to the home. A Sheriff’s Office news release said Fillingim has been the subject of numerous law enforcement encounters involving violence and weapons in the past.
When deputies arrived on scene Fillingim was in possession of a knife and had cut his own throat from ear to ear, as reported by ECSO dispatch. Fillingim, armed with a knife, lunged at the deputy who discharged his service weapon in self defense, the Sheriff’s Office news release stated.
Fillingim was transported to a local hospital where he later succumbed to his injuries.
Per standard procedure, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement will take over the investigation, and the deputy was placed on administrative leave.
Comments
13 Responses to “Man Dies After Officer Involved Shooting”
Be careful about what some of you think about the body cams,just remember everything they record is public information and can be viewed by anyone,to include inside your homes or private matters that maybe discussed with the officer,such as about your family or your neighbors or anything else you can think of.when wearing the body cam you don’t get to choose when to turn it off and on,it could be considered destruction of evidence or an officers attempt to be dishonest.I get tired of people always second guessing law enforcement,if the daughter could have taking care of her father better then she should have,remember cops want to live also and have families too,also remember this had been running the streets armed with a knife,if he would have come across a person with a gun they would have the same right to protect theirs or anybody else’s life.
To the person using the name WHY, To answer your question “Why is it illegal to be in your home, armed, and suicidal”? Suicide is against the law, persons who are unsuccessful can be tried with a felony for attempting to kill themselves.
I have always thought this was another silly law, It’s okay for people to use alcohol and tobbacco to kill themselves slowly because the Federal and State goverments make a ton of cash from it.
There are people who feel that the Goverments of this country should be able to control everyones actions and thoughts. I am of the opinion that everyone should be able to do whatever they like with thier own bodies or put into thier own bodies whatever they desire without fear of reprecussions from the gestapo LEO types. I believe in personal choice and personal responsibility, something the goverments of this country is taking away from us slowly and steadily.
We are not a free society as some would like you to believe, our country has the highest incarceration rate in the world, I have been to other countries and didn’t feel as oppressed as i do here in the U.S. at times. Our lawenforcement has moved away from the concept of innocent until proven guilty in a court of law to guilty even if proven innocent.
@ TC- ? rubber bullets– I can see it now when some one comes out with a gun and the officers has to yell “Kings X” while he put real rounds into his gun. Some times an officer has to make a life and death decision on the spot, this appears to have been one of those times. The body cameras are not cheap, most appear to be about $300. It would be nice to out fit each officer with one— but remember no one wants to pay taxes to cover the cost for any thing in Escambia CountyDepartments have found there have been less complaints on officers when they are used. The records on the family make for interesting reading.
Why dont you check out his previous records and back in 2013 when he was all over the news for beating his daughter and making her do hard labor work……read people,read. Escambiaclerk.com
Just saw the daughter commenting on WEAR TV that if she had known the officer would kill her dad she would have taken him (where I don’t know). Seems like they want the police to help and when something doesn’t go the way they want they blame the officer. I believe this is a good case of suicide by police. Daughter stated he had given up the knife that I don’t believe.
@Bewildered, you don’t think his cutting his own throat ear to ear means one is “brave enough”? We have not seen a video of the event. There have been cases of officers using lethal force when they could have used a taser, bean bag or rubber bullets instead. Officers should all be wearing body cams to clarify exactly what happens on a call.
Someone stated something about being alone in their house and what is the problem? Well he wasn’t alone, there were other family members in the house and someone cannot be left alone by the police, even if they want to just hurt themselves. Police still have a duty to try and preserve life, unless the person decides other alternatives.
Why is it illegal to be in your home, armed, and suicidal? He was in his own home. I’m not in any criticizing; I just asking why do the police have to report to the scene of someone in their own home minding their own business?
Another case where the individual is not quite brave enough to take his own life, so he puts the burden of being responsible for ending his life on a first responder. My thoughts are with the officer who has to live with this tragedy for the rest of his life.
I really thought that “suicide by cop” was kinda outdated.
Sounds like he didn’t cut himself deep enough.
That poor officer….what a rough, thankless job they have sometimes!!
This a tragedy not only for this disturbed man who wanted to take his own life, but also for the deputy who apparantely had to use force, which resulted in the mans death..