Palm Bay police take barricaded suspect with weapon into custody

Heavy police presence reported at The Pines Apartments complex

Palm Bay police investigate at The Pines apartment complex after residents reported a person with a firearm barricading himself inside his apartment the afternoon of Dec. 22, 2020. (Image: Tim Shortt/Florida Today) (WKMG)

PALM BAY, Fla. – A man suspected of firing a weapon near a children’s playground and then barricading himself inside The Pines Apartments complex in Palm Bay has been taken into custody, police report.

No one was injured, according to News 6 partner Florida Today.

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Police had issued a shelter-in-place order to residents within minutes of the gunfire reports, city officials said. Residents at the apartment complex were heard shouting and hurling curses at the man as he locked himself in his residence, even as a SWAT team readied for deployment.

“That did present some safety issues for us. (The residents) were stirring him up more. But he surrendered later after talking with our negotiators,” said Lt. Mike Smith of the Palm Bay Police Department.

Police did not have a motive for the incident.

“Detectives are talking to him. They are also determining a number of criminal charges,” Smith said.

He said detectives will review whether a mental health evaluation is needed. If they determine using the Baker Act is warranted, the man still will be taken to the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office in Sharpes. The Baker Act allows a person who threatens themselves or others to be held involuntarily for 72 hours for a mental health evaluation.

The incident unfolded at 12:23 p.m. Tuesday at the apartment complex on Pinewood Drive, just off of Palm Bay Road. Witnesses said the man was in the parking lot near several children when he fired off a round from a handgun.

“The kids were yelling at him after he fired the gun,” said Davin Reyna, a resident at the complex. “He fired off one shot. My dog started barking and I got up to see what was going on.”

Reyna, like other residents, heeded calls from police to remain in his apartment.

The suspect whom police have not named, was described as acting erratically by residents and taken into custody about 1:30 p.m.

Afterward, forensic agents arrived to search for bullet casings. Residents were then allowed to return inside the complex.

An investigation is ongoing.


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