Deputies, officers shoot armed man who held deputy, guard and nurse hostage at Orange County Jail
ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. March 23 2020— Deputies shot an armed 25-year-old man who held a deputy, a corrections officer, a jail nurse and another person who had been arrested hostage while being booked into the Orange County Jail on Saturday, Orange County Sheriff John Mina said.
Mina said a deputy stopped a driver shortly after 5 p.m. on World Center Drive near South Apopka-Vineland Road and arrested two people on drug charges. They were taken to jail.
He said one of the suspects, Eric Jefferson Stanley, pulled out a gun in the jail booking area and took the trio hostage.
Mina said three Orange County deputies and two Orlando police officers approached Stanley from outside the jail’s booking area.
He said the law enforcement officers shot at Stanley, striking him in the shoulder. His injuries were not life-threatening and no one else was seriously injured.
Mina said deputies and officers negotiated with Stanley for about an hour and a half, ultimately persuading him to surrender.
“He threw the gun away, distanced himself from the gun, and it was at that point our SWAT team moved in and secured him,” he said.
Stanley was taken to Orlando Regional Medical Center.
He faces additional charges in connection with the alleged hostage situation.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the shooting.
