John Jefferson
The aftermath of a Thanksgiving Day shootout in Ormond-by-the-Sea, Fla. (Volusia Sheriff’s Office).
A man was shot to death by a Florida sheriff’s office sniper on Thanksgiving Day after a lengthy shootout in an eastern coastal enclave left the area littered with over 200 rounds of ammunition.
Joseph DiFusco is dead now but the mystery of the gunfire remains, according to a press release issued by the Volusia Sheriff’s Office.
The incident spanned some two-plus hours during the mid-to-late morning on Thursday. In the end, there were no additional victims beyond the shooter, Sunshine State sheriff’s deputies say.
Just before 6:30 a.m., the sheriff’s office advised residents to avoid a stretch of Ocean Shore Boulevard near the Kingston Shores condominiums in Ormond-by-the-Sea, a small, census-designated place and seaside town located some 70 miles northeast of Orlando.
“Deputies are on scene in response to a man shooting multiple rounds outside his condo and at neighboring units,” the first dispatch from the sheriff’s office reads. “He has also fired at a [sheriff’s office] vehicle from inside his condo. Neighbors have been notified and evacuated and traffic is being rerouted. If you’re out for a morning walk please avoid this area.”
A couple hours earlier, deputies arrived to deal with a man who said he wanted help as he was experiencing suicidal ideation, Volusia Sheriff Michael “Mike” Chitwood said in comments reported by Orlando-based CBS affiliate WKMG and Daytona Beach-based NBC affiliate WESH.
The sheriff said the man was “snowbirding” — the habit of changing one’s climate during cold weather seasons — and had traveled to Florida from Connecticut where he had previously been treated in a hospital run by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
The condo in question, the sheriff said, was an Airbnb, and the man was all alone after “his family was so scared of him (that) they relocated” to a northern area of Florida.
The deceased man is said to have had a long history of mental health issues — which local authorities were well aware of by the time the fatal and voluminous outburst occurred.
“We were out there three times in the last four days,” Chitwood said during a press conference. “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.”
Multiple weapons were used during the onslaught, the sheriff said, which began with random firing into the adjacent area that struck several neighbors’ units, then with fire being trained on responding deputies roughly two hours later. The deputies eventually shot back.
“Probably he has fired close to 200-plus rounds,” Chitwood continued. “Some of the apartments are littered, the facade is just shot up. There’s rounds in people’s homes. 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.”
The firearms recovered from the condo — as well as the sheer number of rounds spent amid the chaos — belied some of the initial information law enforcement relied upon at the scene.
“The family told us he only had two guns and, like, one clip,” Chitwood went on. “Well, you know, for all these hours we were out there, somebody wasn’t paying attention because he was armed for Armageddon, is what he was armed for.”
Just before noon, the gunfire had stilled.
DiFusco was felled by a sniper’s bullet.
“There was no negotiating with this guy,” the sheriff said. “My objective was to make sure every single deputy went home for Thanksgiving dinner … In 37 years, I don’t think I’ve ever had an experience where I had to position snipers and say, ‘You have a green light to do your job.””
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