- April 29, 2024
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A Palm Coast Plantation woman died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound April 10 after crisis negotiators tried for seven hours to end a domestic violence situation peacefully.
"Our prayers go out to the family, as this is a sad and difficult time for everyone involved."
— RICK STALY, Flagler County sheriff
The Sheriff’s Office had received a 911 call at 8 a.m. about an armed domestic violence situation at a home in Palm Coast Plantation.
Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly and deputies, FCSO SWAT and crisis negotiation units worked with Flagler County Fire Rescue, the Palm Coast Fire Department and Palm Coast technology throughout the day at the Emerald Lake Drive scene to de-escalate the situation.
The woman initially held her husband at gunpoint, but he and a child rescued by deputies shortly after the standoff began.
For the next several hours, attempts to communicate with the armed woman through various means were unsuccessful.
“She was refusing to communicate. So we used our robot, drones and other technology in hopes of communicating with her,” Staly said. “Based on our technology, we observed her holding the gun in a suicidal manner. We knew from the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office in a prior nine-hour standoff with her that she would not communicate, and a tactical resolution would be the only solution.”
Because of the threat to the neighborhood, and her lack of responsiveness to communicating with the Crisis Negotiation team, tactical gas was deployed. The woman went into the home’s lanai holding a gun to her head and started to walk into the pool.
Deputies used non-lethal weapons in an attempt to disarm her, but she shot herself in front of deputies while in the pool just before 3 p.m.
Deputies immediately pulled her from the pool and began emergency first aid.
Flagler County Fire Rescue began performing life-saving measures and transported her to Advent Health Palm Coast. She was later flown to Halifax Health Medical Center in Daytona Beach, where she died from her self-inflicted injury.
“We did all we could to end this incident peacefully without injury,” Staly said. “I’m proud of our team that did everything they could to resolve this situation peacefully. This is not the outcome we were hoping for. But in these situations, we do not control the outcome. Fortunately, no deputies, neighbors or the family members were injured during this almost eight-hour incident. Our prayers go out to the family, as this is a sad and difficult time for everyone involved.”
