There has been media coverage of a looter being shot and killed while stealing a fire marshall vehicle. No way the media would willfully agree to keep silent about murder and mayhem, particularly during election season.
http://www.newsherald.com/news/20181017/officer-involved-shooting-among-shots-fired-reports
Officer-involved shooting among ‘shots fired’ reports
By ZACK McDONALD
News Herald Reporter
Posted at 3:38 PM Updated at 3:38 PM
In the days after Hurricane Michael, officers responded to untold numbers of gunshots in the hard-hit areas east of the Hathaway Bridge as lootings and thefts erupted. Only a handful of shooting reports, though, were substantiated, officials said.
PANAMA CITY — Reports of shots fired flooded Bay County law enforcement officers in the immediate wake of Hurricane Michael — including a fatal officer-involved shooting and a domestic quarrel — but most were without substance, officials said Wednesday.
Since making landfall Oct. 10, Hurricane Michael has rendered much of Bay County powerless. In the days after, officers responded to untold numbers of gunshots in the hard-hit areas east of the Hathaway Bridge as lootings and thefts erupted. Only a handful of shooting reports, though, were substantiated, officials said.
Panama City Police Chief Scott Ervin said many people arrested have been carrying guns but his officers only had a couple of substance, including one man thought to be mentally ill firing rounds in the air in front of his home. He said the influx of calls seemed to be a combination of hypersensitivity and misinformation.
“Because of the absence of power and the curfew removing traffic, something that might be miles away seems like it’s next door,” Ervin said. “Some reports are just rumors of gun-play.”
In Bay County, however, one person has been killed by gunfire and another survived a shot to the head.
Sparse information has been confirmed by officials from the first shooting, other than it happened late Oct. 11 in Bayou George, involved an on-duty officer and was fatal. Neither the name of the officer nor that of the victim have been released, as FDLE continues to investigate.
Days after the shooting, visiting media outlets spoke with an alleged witness, who claimed the victim had been attempting to steal a running patrol car. When the victim began to drive away in the cruiser, a Florida Fire Marshal opened fire and killed him, the witness said.
FDLE has not confirmed the witness account.
The second shooting took place Monday afternoon on Alpine Way in Callaway.
The victim, Matthew Sites, was shot in the back of the head. Immediately after, he still was able to stand and speak with officers.
BCSO Capt. Jason Daffin said Sites so far survived the gunshot wound.
“He was flown to another county for treatment,” he said. “When I left, he was alert and conscious.”
According to BCSO reports, Sotes was in a car with the estranged wife of the accused shooter, Christopher King. Sites had driven his girlfriend to Alpine Way to pick up the children she shares with King. The situation then escalated to gunfire.
“You’re not taking the kids,” BCSO quoted King as saying. “I’ll shoot you if you take the girls.”
King allegedly went inside and grabbed a 9mm as Sites and his estranged wife loaded up the children and left. King opened fire on the car carrying the children and shot Sites in the back of the head in the process, BCSO reported.
Sites then crashed into a power pole.
King retrieved the children from the car and went back home. He was arrested a short time later.
King has been charged with shooting into an occupied vehicle.
“He’ll have other charges,” Daffin said. “We wanted to make sure the victim didn’t take a turn for the worse.”
Other than those two shootings, Daffin likewise said there have been no other gun-play related injuries.