Gifford - Saturday June 11, 2022: A 19 year old teen was shot and wounded by Indian River County Sheriff Deputies Saturday night in Gifford after he fled from the back seat of a stopped vehicle and ran away with a gun in his hand.
Indian River County Sheriff Eric Flowers said the teen was "shot several times, but he is going to live." He was taken to Longwood Hospital in Vero Beach where he was in stable condition Monday morning, according to IRC Sheriff spokeswoman Debbie Carson. His identity has not been released, but Sheriff Flowers said he is a convicted felon who was out on probation.
Sheriff Flowers said the incident began to unfold at 9 p.m. Saturday night when Deputies stopped a vehicle in the 3100 block of 45th Street. Four people were inside the vehicle. "These guys were known to be armed," said Sheriff Flowers.
The 19 year old was sitting in the back passenger side seat of the vehicle when it was stopped. The deputies saw that the teen "was in possession of a firearm" and they told him "do not touch the gun, leave it there," said Sheriff Flowers. As the Deputies were "slowly removing" the other 3 occupants from the vehicle, the Sheriff said the 19 year old "grabbed the gun and took off." That's when the Deputies fired and struck the teen. The other 3 occupants of the vehicle were taken into custody without further incident.
"There were actually two spots where shots were fired," said the Sheriff. The initial shots were fired as the teen "was fleeing from the vehicle." Then just east of the stopped vehicle "there was a second volley of fire that occurred." The Sheriff said "we're still watching body camera footage to determine whether that suspect shot back."
All four Deputies involved have been placed on paid administrative leave. "Our folks definitely did their job tonight, they protected the community," said Sheriff Flowers.
Deputies had been tracking the vehicle, said Sheriff Flowers, and they carried out the traffic stop shortly after the vehicle had just pulled away from the 4500 block of 33rd Avenue in Gifford, the same residence were a shooting death had occurred early Thursday morning, two days earlier, around 4:30 a.m. on June 9th.
The Sheriff said "we don't know" whether the men were involved with the Thursday morning homicide, "its still an active investigation. But he did say that the vehicle was "known to be involved in some burglaries ... in our community". It was also "known to be involved" in an incident early that same day, at 2 a.m. Saturday morning, during which "a volley of shots" were fired in the 4500 block of 38th Avenue in Gifford. No one was injured in that incident.
Watch Sheriff Flowers' briefing on the incident here > https://fb.watch/dD11HKil5k/.