(CNN) — A Central Florida deputy was killed and two others injured once they were “ambushed” after responding to a disturbance Friday night, Lake County Sheriff Peyton Grinnell said.
The shooting occurred around 8 p.m. at a house in Eustis, about 40 miles north of Orlando, Grinnell said.
“We went to a disturbance at one house – the first call was for a disturbance – and then while we were there, someone told the deputies they had to go to the other house because there was a problem there,” Grinnell said at a press conference early Saturday.
When Lake County officials reached the opposite house, they found the back door had been kicked in and there was “some commotion” inside, the sheriff said.
“They were met with heavy gunfire,” Grinnell said. The first officer to enter the house was injured and trapped inside, while one other officer was capable of escape.
Other law enforcement officials responded, and as they attempted to rescue the trapped deputy, they were met with more gunfire and one other deputy was hit, the sheriff said.
Two of the officers who responded suffered gunshot wounds, and the officer trapped contained in the home later died from his gunshot wounds, Grinnell said.
Two of the suspects were found dead when a SWAT team entered the home and one other was taken to a close-by hospital, he added.
The names of the officers and folks in the home weren’t released.
Grinnell said an initial search of the house revealed “several firearms.”
“Everything from long guns to handguns,” he said.
He noted that that is the primary death of a deputy sheriff in the neighborhood since February 2005 and said the Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the incident.
CNN's Lechelle Benken contributed to this report.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2024 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery company. All rights reserved.
Originally published:
image credit : www.mercurynews.com