Bayou George Man Turns Gun on Deputies
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Updated: 11:14 PM Jul 3, 2009
Bayou George Man Turns Gun on Deputies
The normally peaceful sunrise was shattered Friday morning in Bayou George, when a man allegedly fired a shot into the air, then pointed his rifle at sheriff's deputies.
Posted: 11:14 PM Jul 3, 2009
Reporter: Alexandra Hill
Email Address: alexandra.hill@wjhg.com

Police Involved Shooting In Bayou George
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The normally peaceful sunrise was shattered Friday morning in Bayou George, when a man allegedly fired a shot into the air, then pointed his rifle at sheriff's deputies. At least one of the deputies returned fire, hitting the man 5 times.

As Newschannel 7's Alexandra Hill tells us, the shooting was the result of a domestic violence call.

The story starts early Friday morning when most people are still sleeping, but not everyone. People in at least two of the houses on Bertha Nelson road were wide awake.

At one house were several people where there was a domestic dispute. At the other home was an eyewitness who wants to remain unidentified.

"About 5:30 I got up and was going to come outside and start mowing some grass and I heard a loud noise going on, somebody hollering and I was taking another step forward on the porch and looked out and there were two deputies at the drive-in entrance there,” recalls the neighbor.

Bay County Sheriff's deputies were responding to a 9-1-1 call from a woman saying her husband was acting erratically. The situation soon spiraled further out of control.

With three small children and a wife nearby, deputies say Dustin Garland, 27-years-old, shot a high powered rifle up in the air and then turned the barrel toward them.

"The subject walked out of the residence and fired several shots, one of our deputies returned fire, struck the subject several times, subject went down, they were able to disarm him and he was transported to Bay Medical with several gunshot wounds," says Bay County Sheriff Frank McKeithen.

The neighbor goes on to say, "He told them if they wanted to do a firearms show that he could help them with that. And he went back in the house and I didn't see him anymore until they pulled him out of the house and put him on a gurney."

Florida Department of Law Enforcement was on the scene trying to figure out what caused this domestic disturbance. An FDLE investigation is standard procedure whenever a shooting involves an officer.

"They're going to process the scene and collect evidence. We will assemble that in a package of reports and documents and present that usually within four to six weeks to the state attorney's office,” says Tommy Ford, FDLE investigator.

Vidrine is on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation. Authorities say Garland is in guarded condition at Bay Medical Center, suffering from five gunshot wounds.


Latest Comments

Posted by: john Location: youngstown on Jul 5, 2009 at 09:17 AM

So Jay make sure you watch the news and read the articles from the start the staff at wjhg who I watch and have great respect for do revise the articles and this one did have a revision
Posted by: john Location: youngstown on Jul 5, 2009 at 09:13 AM

It did say it prior to the 1130 pm revision friday night. Wjhg also stated it on the air. Officer vidrine is an hero in my book and I thank god he is alive and well
Posted by: Jay Location: PCB on Jul 4, 2009 at 03:23 PM

Where in the article does it say anything about charges? " An FDLE investigation is standard procedure whenever a shooting involves an officer". "Vidrine is on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation". Is what it says...do you guys even read the articles before commenting?
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