A standoff on Florida Park Drive shut down a segment of the road in the heart of Palm Coast shortly after 6 p.m. Saturday evening as the SWAT team was called out and residents from Foster Lane to Forest Hill Drive were ordered to stay indoors.
A Flagler County Sheriff’s spokeswoman confirmed that the situation entailed an attempted suicide by a person who had been Baker Acted last year, when he had threatened to kill himself then. Authorities had secured an individual by 7:30 p.m., the spokesperson said, but it was unclear whether the individual was the one involved in the suicide attempt.
The situation was unfolding in the house at 106 Florida Park Drive, which is occupied by renters.
Neighbors near the situation heard a small-caliber firearm go off at about 7:20 p.m. But the discharge could also have been that of non-lethal weaponry Swat team members carry and are trained to use in such situations–and have on at least two occasions in the last two years, once with an armed offender, and once in the case of a man who had a gun and was threatening to kill himself.
At about 7:30 p.m., a Flagler County Fire Rescue ambulance drove past the southern checkpoint on Florida Park Drive, toward the house where the standoff was taking place.
The road opened at 7:45 p.m. and traffic immediately began flowing normally even as several units of the sheriff’s office remained at the house at the center of the standoff.
Sheriff’s spokeswoman Paula Priester confirmed at 7:30 p.m. that the individual was in custody, with no injuries reported. Suicidal individuals, once secured, are committed under the Baker Act to the psychiatric unit at Halifax hospital in Daytona Beach (a secure facility), where they may be held against their will if necessary for up to 72 hours for evaluation. Priester said the individual was, in fact, Baker Acted.
Charles "Bub" Robson says
Good job FCSO!
Retired FF says
Great picture of the Swat team member walking down the road with a gun and the 4 young girls playing in the driveway behind him. You would have thought that everyone should have been cleared from the area.
Ruth says
I thought that guy was the suicide person. Why where those children outside with SWET out there ?
Jim R says
Why do you need a swat team for a suicide situation? Seems like a mental health worker would be more appropriate.
confidential says
Because the man was shooting a gun…is no that enough reason?
Sherry E says
How is it that such a tragically mentally ill person has access to any weapon? Why wasn’t he in a mental institution? Oh yeah, I forgot. . . this is Florida (my home state) lax gun safety regulations, and huge cuts in mental health care!!!!
Anonymous says
Suicide by cop. It happens more often than you think.
PCOG says
A disturbed man in Palm Coast gets the Baker Act yet an unarmed Bunnell man gets executed in front of his kids for having the same problems.
Not to mention the Italian and Russian Mob is in town and Manfre doesn’t do a damn thing about that.
This place is a joke.
sally sunshine says
I just can’t believe law enforcement didn’t make whoever take the children inside? I live in the direct way of all and I couldn’t park in my driveway? I went grocery shopping and had to go the back way to wait until I got permission to go. Even when I wanted to leave my driveway I had to take back roads. Safety? I have to question all involved.
Ray Thorne says
How do we know he’s not walking away from telling them to go inside?