A Florida law enforcement sniper shot and killed a man who fired more than 200 rounds at an Ormond-on-the-Sea condominium complex and at responding deputies over the course of several hours Thursday morning.
The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office identified the man as Joseph DiFusco and said that somehow no one else was injured.
Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood said at a news conference that DiFusco was “snowbirding” in Florida and staying alone at a unit in the Kingston Shores Condominium that he described as an Airbnb, WKMG reported. His family, Chitwood said, “was so scared of him they relocated north” to the Palm Coast area.
Chitwood said deputies had been called three times in the past four days but didn’t say why DiFusco was still free to start firing Thursday morning.
“I think we were out there for a well-being check, they were out there to serve the ex-parte order that had not been signed and then we were out there for the medical issue earlier this morning, and obviously right there when (he) started firing shots,” Chitwood said.
The first calls came in Thursday morning at about 6 a.m. saying he was shooting at other properties in the complex. When deputies arrived, he barricaded himself inside his unit and continued firing.
“Probably he has fired close to 200-plus rounds. I’m sure when you’ll see the crime scene, some of the apartments are littered, the façade is just shot up. There’s rounds in people’s homes,” Chitwood said. “He shot at our negotiators, at the speaker on the truck. He shot at the SWAT truck when it pulled up. He retreated into a back bedroom. We were able to send in tear gas and kind of corner him, but it was obvious that he wasn’t coming out. He was armed with at least a shotgun, a handgun and a Tommy gun.”
DiFusco refused to speak with deputies, the sheriff said, responding only with gunfire.
Police put out a notice of the trouble at about 9:30 a.m., telling people to avoid the area. By 11:30, the Facebook posts said the man was still shooting. Shortly after noon, however, DiFusco was dead, brought down by a sniper.
The sheriff’s office said the Florida Department of Law Enforcement would investigate the shooting.
