CLERMONT, Fla. – News 6 is Hitting the Road with Clermont’s newly-appointed interim Police Chief John Graczyk breaking down what he called “by far one of the most intense [police body camera] videos I’ve ever watched in my career.”
In February, when officers were responding to a murder-suicide at the Cottonwood Apartment, a boyfriend had killed his girlfriend, but officers had no idea.
Police body camera video released shortly after the crime showed how six responding officers walked into an ambush.
The initial call to police was “odd,” said Graczyk.
A neighbor reported a woman running around a car away from a man screaming at her in the parking lot of Cottonwood, but no threat of violence.
Chief Graczyk believes that the tip wasn’t phoned in until hours after the woman had been shot and killed inside her apartment.
So when police responded, unbeknownst to them, the woman was laying dead on the other side of the apartment door.
Officers spotted blood and bullet shell casings on the ground and formulated a plan to enter the apartment, fearing a shooter was on the loose.
The six officers moved together, staying low and in formation as they climbed the stairs, yelling “Clermont Police!” with guns drawn and holding out shields to provide cover.
At the top of the stairs, they paused, prepared and then kicked open a door. Immediately, a man behind the door started firing. The officers ducked for cover.
None of them were hit by bullets. But Graczyk said they came within inches.
“Thankfully none of my officers were hurt that day,” Graczyk said.
Graczyk was Clermont PD’s Deputy Chief at the time, commanding the response to the incident just blocks away.
Months later, watching the body camera video still evokes strong emotions.
“Yes, sir,” Graczyk said. “I have a personal connection with many of the officers in our agency being here for 20 years.”
Graczyk said his officers could not wait for the SWAT team to arrive because of the threat of an active shooter so “they had to devise a game plan.”
“Could we have done some things differently?” Graczyk asked. “Absolutely. You could always go back and critique an incident. But I would never take anything away from the six men who entered that residence on that day and acted heroically.”
Graczyk said the incident and the officers’ response drew attention to the shields they used because of their effectiveness. The police department will now send two officers to Ballistic Shield Instructor Training to bring their knowledge back to the department and instruct other officers.
“The value of the shield is irreplaceable,” Graczyk said. “When you think about what could happen to your personnel without their shield or without a vest.”
After the shots were fired at the officers and they retreated, they waited in the parking lot for the SWAT team to arrive. Eventually, SWAT entered the apartment and found the man dead with a self-inflicted bullet wound.