Sheriff issues statement regarding police action with suicidal person

This last Thursday, in the early morning hours of 10-5-2023, 911 dispatched our single/Deputy car to a suicidal male. This occurred on Sugar Island, in a remote part of our county. A U.S.B.P. agent was available and volunteered to assist our deputy.

Upon arrival the male was seen holding a handgun to his side yelling and threatening the Officers. The Officers did an outstanding job taking cover and attempting to talk the subject down.

The man walked back into his house and was seen with yet another firearm, this time a long gun. Shortly after, the subject came back out of the house with 2 handguns tucked in the waist of his pants.

The man completely disregarded all the police commands. The Officers did everything they could by taking cover and kept backing up as the subject kept walking towards them. The subject walked the officers all the way down his driveway and down the roadway. It was apparent that the subject wanted a confrontation with the officers and it appeared he was hoping to complete suicide by cop.

In this case there was an opening to attempt to subdue the subject with less-lethal force using a Taser. The deployed taser allowed the Officers to take the subject into custody without a single shot being fired. Not all situations allow the time to attempt this type of tactic, but in this instance it worked perfectly.

This situation could have easily gone a different direction if not for the outstanding work by our Deputy Sheriff and the Special Agent from the USBP.

This is just one instance where a life and death decision was made in the line of duty. We make decisions like this way too many times, even here in the E.U.P.

These officers did all they could to resolve the situation without lethal force.