Courtesy photo
Clayton Gonsalves, shown here in this photo released by the Volusia County Sheriff's Office was airlifted to Halifax Medical Center with unspecified gunshot wounds Wednesday afternoon after he was fired upon by two Sheriff's sergeants after he pointed a gun at them, an hour after shooting his widfe in the arm in their Deltona home.
DELTONA -- Two Sheriff's deputies fired on a Deltona man Wednesday afternoon who had earlier shot his wife in the arm during a standoff. He was airlifted to Halifax Medical Centerand his wife transported by ambulance to Florida Hospital Fish Memorial in Orange City.
Deputies were dispatched to the scene at 2820 Lake Helen Osteen Road after yelling and screaming could be heard during a 911 call that came from the house at 4:43 p.m.
"After the call disconnected, dispatchers called back and spoke to a female who said that her father had just shot her mother and that everyone except the father had fled the house and gone down the road to seek safety," Sheriff's spokesman Gary Davidson said, adding the gunman fired into the air as responding deputies tried to quell the fracas.
"About an hour into the call, the armed man -- 48-year-old Clayton Gonsalves -- advanced on deputies and they opened fire to defend themselves," Davidson said. The Sheriff's spokesman did not release any details on where the gunman had been shot or the nature of his injuries, except to say Gonsalves was airlifted by a Sheriff's Office helicopter to Halifax in Daytona Beach for treatment.
His wife, 45-year-old Sislyn Gonsalves, was transported to for treatment of a gunshot wound to the left arm. Deputies began arriving a few minutes later to try to resolve the conflict, but Clayton Gonsalves walked around the backyard of his house and at one point emerged from behind a shed and fired a round into the air. Information on the type of weapon was not released.
"Deputies took cover and quickly cordoned off the neighborhood as a safety precaution while crisis negotiators responded to try to talk to the man. Shortly before 6 p.m., members of the Sheriff's Office's SWAT Team moved in to position to replace patrol units in the inner perimeter in order to enable the patrol units to pull back and reposition themselves," Davidson said.
"That's when Gonsalves emerged and advanced on SWAT deputies, ignored their commands to drop his weapon and pointed it at deputies," the spokesman said. "Deputies on the SWAT Team then fired to protect themselves."
The Sheriff's persoonnel who fired the shots were idfentified as Sgt. Tom Dane, 46 years old, a 22-year veteran with the Sheriff's Office, and Sgt. Vidal Mejias, 35 years old, a 15-year veteran.
The incident remains under investigation. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement also will be brought in to investigate, which is customary in officer-involved shootings, Davidson said.