- Hello everyone. I'm Sheriff Wayne Ivey,
of the Brevard County Sheriff's Office.
And I want to give everyone an update this evening
on the deputy involved shooting that took place
on Monday, August 30th,
when two of our deputies were ambushed
by an extremely violent career criminal
during a traffic stop in West Melbourne.
The attack and ambush was perpetrated
by a violent career criminal,
with a history of 40 charges for crimes including
drug trafficking, aggravated assault while discharging a
firearm, battery on a law enforcement officer
and attempted first degree felony murder,
as well as convictions for robbery with a firearm,
failing to register as a career offender,
possession of a firearm by a convicted felon,
resisting arrest with violence,
possession of controlled substances
and various probation violations.
Even worse and more disgusting
is that this career criminal
whose name doesn't even deserve mentioning
was actually out on bond with active warrants
for additional felony drug trafficking cases,
where he could attempt to kill our deputies,
when he should have been safely locked behind bars
where he couldn't victimize another citizen
or innocent bystander.
I'm sure that like me,
you're probably asking yourself right now,
why a thug with this kind of criminal history
was ever given a bond where he could be out
on our streets to harm someone else.
That's a question I promise to find the answer to,
but for now I'm just extremely thankful that our deputies
are safe and the suspect is no longer on this planet
where he could put someone else's life in peril.
As I stated earlier,
this incident occurred when one of our deputies
conducted a traffic stop in the unincorporated area
of West Melbourne on a vehicle that was occupied
by three adult subjects and a two month old baby
that was actually sitting in the back seat
where the perpetrator of the ambush was seated.
The entire traffic stop, ambush,
and deputy involved shooting was captured
on two separate dash cameras.
And as you will see in the video
that I'm about to show you the suspect
was the initial aggressor as he concealed his weapon
until exiting the vehicle and immediately firing
upon our deputies with a pistol grip style
high powered rifle in an attempt to take their lives
and avoid arrest as he was wanted
on various outstanding warrants.
Now, I want to caution everyone that the video
you're about to see is extremely violent, graphic
and also a perfect example of just how dangerous a job
our deputies and law enforcement officers face
across the country each and every day.
I am first going to play the video for you
in its entirety and in real time.
Then I'm going to break the video down in slow motion
while providing a step-by-step explanation
of what was taking place and why the actions
of our deputies saved their lives
and the lives of others at the scene,
including the two month old baby
in the backseat of the car that was directly
in the line of fire when this extremely violent individual
decided to try and kill our deputies.
The video I'm about to show you is captured
by the dash camera in the vehicle of deputy Brian Potters,
who was the second deputy to arrive on scene
in an effort to assist deputy Tyler Thoman
during the traffic stop.
The segment of the video,
I'm going to show you tonight begins
immediately prior to the time of the ambush
and captures the entire incident that involved a total
of 61 rounds being fired within a minute.
As I said, the video is graphic in nature
and not only captures video of the incident,
but the audio of all involved as well.
During the video, you will hear music playing
in the background.
That is actually music playing on the stereo
of Deputy Potter's car captured by the internal microphone
system of the car as the incident was taking place.
Again, the entire ambush and response
by our deputies takes place within a minute
and sadly captures what our deputies
and law enforcement officers from
across the country potentially face
every day of their lives.
- What's that?
In the car?
All right, partner, he wants to talk to ya out here.
Is that all you got?
I'll watch him for ya.
He's all right.
I got babies.
Oh, you got a dog too, hell.
I'll make sure they're all right.
I got babies too, man.
Huh?
Okay.
(unintelligible screaming and shooting begin)
- Now, as you can see and hear from the video,
this was an extremely violent ambush
that both of our deputies and the occupants of the vehicle
were extremely blessed to survive.
This individual had absolutely no regard for human life
and was focused on only one thing,
killing our deputies to avoid arrest,
as he knew he was facing several minimum mandatory
prison sentences in his pending cases.
As you can see the subject not only fired numerous rounds
at our deputies, but also after his gun jammed,
used the butt of the rifle to violently and repeatedly
strike Deputy Potters in the head causing
significant injuries and lacerations.
Let there be no doubt,
this individual got exactly what he deserved
and to those out there who might be foolish enough
to ask why we shot him so many times, that answer is simple.
Because evil can never be dead enough.
Now that you've had a chance to see the ambush
and response by our deputies, as it occurred in real time,
I'm going to show you the incident as it unfolds
in slow motion, so that you can see exactly what took place
and how our deputies responded to the threat.
So the first thing we see is Deputy Thoman
talking with the female occupant of the vehicle
while a second occupant of the vehicle
is seen leaning against the trunk of the car,
where the perpetrator is actually seated in the back seat.
I want to be very clear in stating that neither
of these two occupants had anything to do
with this ambush or criminal activity.
And I'm extremely grateful that they were not injured
and how they immediately returned to the scene
as instructed by Deputy Thoman.
At an earlier point in the video,
you observed Deputy Thoman asking Deputy Potters
to have the third subject exit the vehicle.
Prior to this point,
Deputy Potters has been very politely conversing
with the subject and talking about the two month old baby
in the backseat and a dog that was also
in the backseat as well.
As Deputy Potters asked the subject to exit the vehicle,
he is immediately and without warning ambushed
with a small spot AR-15 styled rifle
that is pointed in fire directly at him.
Deputy Potters immediately attempts to avoid being shot
by trying to create distance between himself
and the shooter who aggressively opens fire on him
as he takes cover at the front of the vehicle.
The subject now fires at Deputy Potters
from the driver's side of the vehicle
and appears to actually get hit himself.
As you also hear Deputy Potters announce
that he has been hit with gunfire.
The subject then goes between the two vehicles
and additional shots can be heard being fired.
Deputy Thoman and Deputy Potters can now briefly
be seen taking a position between Deputy Potter's patrol car
and Deputy Thoman's patrol unit,
when the suspect emerges from behind Deputy Thoman's
patrol unit and violently strikes Deputy Potters
in the head with the butt of the rifle.
As the suspect repeatedly batters Deputy Potters in the head
with the butt of the gun,
the two of them fall to the ground
where the subject continues to strike Deputy Potters
in the head with the gun.
Deputy Thoman, at this point, gains a tactical advantage
on the target and fires multiple rounds,
thus eliminating the threat and saving Deputy Potter's life.
As a result of the ambush and repeated blows to the head
by this violent thug,
Deputy Potters sustained a gunshot wound to the lower leg,
multiple head lacerations, tissue damage, a concussion
and fractures of the orbital bone and sinuses.
Thankfully, Deputy Thoman did not suffer
any injuries during the incident.
And the suspect was subsequently pronounced dead
from gunshots sustained during the ambush
and attack on our deputies.
As you can clearly see from the video,
both of our deputies were in a battle for their lives
as this disgusting and evil individual
had a blatant disregard for their lives,
the life of others at the scene,
and even the life of the two month old baby
who was in the car he repeatedly used for cover,
as he tried to kill both Deputy Potters and Deputy Thoman.
When I tell you that we are blessed that God
was watching over our deputies and those present
at the scene, I mean it from the bottom of my heart,
and I could not be more proud of the actions
of Deputy Potters and Deputy Thoman.
As I said earlier, this case is a perfect example
of what is wrong with our criminal justice system.
When a registered career criminal with 23 felony charges,
17 misdemeanor charges, multiple convictions
for violent offenses and two active
and pending drug trafficking cases,
is out on our streets where you can attempt
to kill our deputies and put other's lives at risk,
something is wrong with our system.
And it's time that we as a society
of law abiding citizens say enough is enough.
Folks, I can't speak for you,
but I am personally sickened by the fact that this thug
with such a violent criminal history was out of jail,
where he could almost kill two of our deputies.
It's time that we as law abiding citizens
start demanding that violent criminals who can't
obey the law are kept behind bars,
where they can't victimize anyone else.
As I close tonight on behalf of Deputy Thoman,
Deputy Potters, and their families,
and also our entire agency,
I want to personally thank our community
for the amazing support and love for our agency
you have shown since incident that occurred last week.
Your emails, personal messages and phone calls
of love and prayers mean more to us than you will ever know,
and serve as a constant reminder of how blessed
we are to serve in a community that loves us so much.
Thank you.