CLERMONT, Fla. – The Lake County Sheriff's Office said Monday that a suspect died after being shot the previous day by a deputy in Clermont.
Investigators said Jorge Luis Rivera-Melendez, 33, died after being found at the Carrington at Four Corners apartments, about a half-mile from where he had been shot.
Deputies said Rivera-Melendez had been involved in a domestic dispute with a woman before he was cornered near a fence. The Sheriff's Office said Rivera-Melendez pulled out a handgun and was shot by a deputy.
"It's not an exaggeration to say that we are one big family, so when something like this happens, our first concern is is our deputy OK, and in this case, all of our deputies are just fine," Lake County sheriff's Sgt. Jim Vachon said.
A woman told News 6 that she was in the process of changing the locks to her apartment when her estranged boyfriend, later identified as Rivera-Melendez, came over and threw her to the ground.
The victim said Rivera-Melendez tried to throw her off of the second-story balcony. She also showed News 6 marks on her body and broken glass in the apartment.
Once she was able to call 911, she said Rivera-Melendez took off running with a handgun.
Matt Ray, who lives along Woodcrest Way, said he heard the gunfire.
"It's kind of scary because I'm raising two kids, and they live here, so I'm glad they weren't outside playing or anything," Ray said. "Like, we were inside, but we were home."
Lake County also said that when FDLE removed Rivera-Melendez's handgun from the scene, it was loaded.