Man shot at Florida Panhandle deputies; 1 wounded

David Wray’s business is next to the law office where authorities say Okaloosa County Deputy Bill Myers was shot multiple times by 33-year-old Joel Dixon Smith. After reportedly shooting Deputy Myers, Smith drove to the Comfort Inn and Suites, 148 John Sims Parkway, in Niceville, where he barricaded himself inside a room.

“[Joel Dixon Smith] was a sick little coward”, said Sheriff Ashley.

The Northwest Florida Daily News (http://bit.ly/1Yzv87R ) reports that the shooting took place outside the Cotton and Gates law firm in Shalimar, east of Pensacola.

“We heard ‘pop, pop, pop, ‘” she said.

Deputy Kretzer has been with the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office since 2002, and Deputy Sweeley since 2011. The suspect was meant to turn over his guns as part of a domestic violence injunction, but instead Smith opened fire on the lawman, authorities said. Wray said he asked the man if anyone had called 911, but the man just continued on to his truck.

The Sheriff’s Office said that Deputy Sweeley was talking to the female driver of the truck, when the male passenger pulled out a gun and fired at both deputies.

A pregnant woman was airlifted to the hospital after being caught in a deadly shootout between cops and a passenger in her pickup truck late Monday, sheriff’s officials in Florida said. “When I realized it was an officer that he shot, that’s when it really hit me how unsafe it was”.

She said she and her boss talked to investigators and gave them the cellphone photos and license plate information.

The deputies were not hurt and they will be on administrative leave as the Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigates the shooting.

No other officers were injured.

“They just now let me go back in and get my cellphone and cigarettes”, he said.