Fla. deputy shot serving warrant in prostitution case

Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey expressed cautious optimism about the condition of Deputy John “Casey” Smith, who was seriously wounded when he was shot by a suspect Thursday night.

But when investigators attempted to walk up to the front door a man opened fire on them.

Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey said at a press conference early Friday that a group of deputies went to a home in Port St. John to serve the warrant and take a woman into custody. The deputy is in critical condition and is now undergoing surgery at a central Florida trauma center.

“We believe in our hearts that he is going to be a full recovery”, Ivey said.

The suspected gunman was also taken to a hospital.

“From everything we see right now, they have not even gotten all the way up to the house, so I would definitely classify it as an ambush”, the sheriff said.

An unidentified male who fired on the deputy was also wounded after officers returned fire in the area of Covina Street, which is a neighborhood south of Fay Boulevard and west of U.S. 1. She was briefly put into an ambulance. No one else was found at the home. They then cleared the home.

The Brevard County Sheriff’s Office and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) will be conducting independent and parallel investigations relating to the use of deadly force.

Ivey asked residents to keep the deputy and his family in their thoughts and prayers.