EUSTIS, Fla. – When Carey Schreier opened the large rifle box Eustis Police returned to her this week, she was taken aback at what she saw inside.
“I was livid,” Schreier said.
Schreier was looking at a loaded shotgun — the same shotgun that she said her son, Jordan Ellis, used in his suicide ten months earlier.
“It was loaded with three live rounds,” Schreier said. “They never cleared the gun.”
Schrier sat down with News 6 at her home Thursday, days after she filed a formal complaint with the Eustis Police Department for returning the shotgun while it was still loaded.
“It’s a shotgun,” she said. “It’s pretty self-explanatory what could’ve happened.”
In issuing her formal complaint via e-mail to Chief Craig Capri, Schreier copied News 6.
“What makes this even more alarming is that body camera footage from the scene shows the firearm was not properly cleared at the scene by multiple officers,” she wrote, in part, in her e-mail.
Schreier and News 6’s Mike Valente together reviewed some of the body camera footage she obtained depicting the response to her son’s suicide.
“I don’t feel that my son’s scene was properly processed,” she told Valente Thursday.
In the footage reviewed by News 6, the shotgun in question was stacked in the back of a police car alongside other guns taken from Ellis’ home.
Chief Capri responded to Schreier’s complaint in an email Thursday morning:
Mrs. Schreier,
I want you to know that I was notified about this very concerning incident by my Captain and the unit supervisor. They were already investigating the circumstances of how this could have occurred prior to contacting me. This should never have occurred and the responsible people will be held accountable. I then called you, and we discussed the matter. So, in response to your statement, an investigation was being conducted prior to me calling you. I asked you if you wanted to make a formal complainant because understandably you were upset. I apologize for the miscommunication.
This was not handled properly by our department. I take full responsibility for that. The shotgun should never have been returned to you loaded. I can assure you that protocols have since been put in place to prevent this from occurring in the future. The personnel who handled the shotgun will be disciplined and training will be mandated to avoid another situation like this.
Again, I apologize that you have to had to deal with this. I hope that future interaction with our agency are more favorable.
Respectfully,
Chief Capri
Valente spoke to Capri on the phone Thursday morning. He did not grant an interview, but did reiterate much of what he said in the e-mail, calling the incident a “mistake” and an “oversight.” He did not elaborate about the disciplinary measures that personnel will face, nor did he give details about the protocols he said were implemented.
When asked what she thought of the chief’s response, Schreier appeared skeptical.
“Do you want me to be honest?” she said. “I think it’s just covering your behind at this point.”