Police say Florida deputy killed, two officers wounded in ambush shooting

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A Florida sheriff’s deputy was killed and two others were wounded while trying to contact the first officer in what police described as an ambush shooting at a home.

Three sheriff’s deputies were shot Friday evening at a home in Eustis, Florida, Lake County Sheriff Peyton Grinnell said during a news conference at the scene.

Two suspects were killed and a third was wounded when police entered the home to try to free a shot deputy who was trapped inside, Grinnell said.

Police received a report of a disturbance at about 8 p.m. Two officers went a few houses away from the caller and found a door that had apparently been forced open.

“When officers entered the home there was a lot of gunfire,” Grinnell said.

One deputy was shot and trapped inside, while the other retreated. More officers arrived and formed a team to enter the home and free the deputy, but they were met with a “barrage of gunfire” and another deputy was shot, Grinnell said.

The sheriff’s deputy who was first shot and trapped inside did not survive, he said.

The second deputy suffered a wound to the arm and was in stable condition. The third deputy was hit in the armpit, groin and abdomen several times and was undergoing surgery, said Grinnell, who did not immediately identify the officers involved.

“It’s just terrifying when you have someone like that in your home and you can’t get to them,” Grinnell said, explaining that SWAT team members were involved in re-entering the home in Eustis, about 37 miles (59 kilometers) northwest of Orlando.

“We have the equipment to do that, and that’s why we have the equipment, and we tore up the house to get in there so we could get the deputy out,” Grinnell said. “It was a chaotic scene from start to finish.”

Grinnell said that when SWAT officers entered the home, two suspects were found dead and the third was taken to the hospital.

He added that there were no reports of violent crimes at the home and there was no indication that the situation might be dangerous.

“They were ambushed,” Grinnell said.