- April 18, 2024
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Troy Gordon was shot 10 times by a Flagler County Sheriff’s Office deputy during a December 2012 fatal confrontation, according to the Medical Examiner’s report.
One bullet struck Gordon in the back of the head. Others hit him in the chest, back and arm. One struck his cheek and another grazed his cheek and went into his chest.
In total, 11 shots were fired by Deputy Joseph Dailey the night of Dec. 15, 2012, in Palm Coast’s B-section.
The night began when Gordon’s family called 911 for a possible Baker Act incident, indicating Gordon's perceived mental state made him a potential harm to himself or others. When deputies arrived to the home at 61 Brownstone Lane, Gordon, 30, was armed with a machete and was carrying a Bible under his arm, according to reports.
Deputies tried to negotiate with Gordon. But Gordon threatened deputies, according to police reports. Deputy Brandon Fiveash — the deputy who was recently demoted to administrative duties amid an unrelated domestic violence complaint — stunned Gordon with his Taser.
Gordon appeared to be affected by the Taser, as he fell backward onto the ground, according to the investigation conducted by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. But Gordon regained control and proceeded to threaten the deputies. Fiveash fired another round of the Taser. At that point, Fiveash went to climb over the barricade Gordon had constructed out of a bookcase and other objects in the cluttered garage, but he tripped. With Gordon wielding the machete, Dailey grabbed Fiveash and then fired “a series of rounds” from his agency-issued gun, reports say.
Dailey continued to shoot toward Gordon until Gordon collapsed, falling at the feet of Fiveash, the report states. Once Gordon fell, Dailey secured him in handcuffs.
According to the FDLE investigation, the deputies involved in the shooting “acted justifiably in their use of deadly force.” The case was closed by State Attorney R.J. Larizza.
But Marc Dwyer, the attorney representing Gordon’s family, said some of the facts revealed in the FDLE investigation are “very, very disturbing.”
“I don’t need to see a whole lot more to know that Troy Gordon shouldn’t be dead today,” Dwyer said last week. “We are not here to make it seem like the cops were bad cops. But it’s clear there was either a lack of training or protocol on how to deal with a mentally ill person.”
Most of the shots Dailey fired were in a downward or “steeply downward” direction, according to the Medical Examiner’s report. One of the bullets, labeled gunshot wound C, went into Gordon’s right cheek. The bullet passed through the cheek, through the sinus and then entered the left chest cavity above the first left rib.
Some witnesses told investigators they heard “several” shots fired; others said there were five to seven shots fired in rapid succession. Another witness said he heard multiple gunshots, with the last one sounding "different" from the others.
Original reports stated Gordon had recently become paranoid and that he might have been using synthetic marijuana in the days leading up to the night he was shot and killed. But there were no traces of any illicit substances in Gordon’s body, according to the toxicology report released last week.
In a press release sent by the Sheriff’s Office on Dec. 16, Dailey was identified as the deputy “who fired the fatal shot.” The total number of shots fired was not disclosed in the release.
Gordon’s manager at McDonald’s told investigators that on the day of the shooting, Gordon appeared to have a happy disposition and did not appear to be impaired. The manager claimed that during her employment as Gordon’s manager, she had never observed Gordon to be unhappy or under the influence of an intoxicating substance.
Dwyer said he’s not interested in turning the case into a “circus,” but he is moving forward with his own investigation to determine whether a wrongful death suit is warranted.
