ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – An Orange County deputy shot and killed a man who repeatedly threatened to kill his own wife Sunday night.
According to an Orange County Sheriff's Office spokesperson, deputy Ronald Barba shot Eric Wayne Dunphy, 54, around 6:30 p.m. Sunday in a mobile home park near the 4400 block of Edgewater Drive.
Deputies arrived at the community and found a woman who had called 911. When the woman's husband, later identified as Dunphy, saw the deputies, officials said he grabbed her, put her in a headlock and placed some sort of tool to the back of her head while telling police they'd have to kill him to stop him from killing her.
"The deputy used his best judgment," an Orange County sheriff's spokeswoman said.
Dunphy was pronounced dead at the scene. The woman was not harmed.
Deputies told Local 6 that Dunphy's wife had a domestic violence injunction against her husband, but the couple still lived together.
Local 6 obtained a copy of the domestic violence injunction filed by Dunphy's wife in January. In her petition she referenced two previous domestic abuse incidents and explained that she "feared for her life."
The Sheriff's Office had been called to the Dunphys' home twice before Sunday's incident, resulting in Dunphy's arrest both times on domestic battery charges. He also served time in prison for trafficking stolen property out of Pasco County.
Dunphy's wife decided not to prosecute in either case, prompting the state to drop the charges. She also later asked a judge to life the injunction against her husband.
Barba, who's been with OCSO since March 2008, was placed on paid administrative leave, which is standard procedure in a shooting involving a law enforcement officer.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement will investigate the shooting.
Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.