Deputies shoot man at the Villages who grabbed taser

The twinkle of holiday decorations was overshadowed by law enforcement lights in The Villages on Thursday night. From late Thursday night into Friday morning, investigators worked to figure out why a 35-year-old man at a house on the 17100 block of 71st Lewisfield Terrace called 911. By daybreak, people were shocked to find deputies in the neighborhood. “I’m just astonished. Nothing ever happens here,” said resident Harry Messenheimer. Lt. Paul Bloom with the Marion County Sheriff’s Office said Edward Townsend III called 911 around 9:30 p.m. saying there was a domestic disturbance in the area. “The 911 call taker tried to get more information from him. And at that point he told the call taker, ‘Look, I’m going to just take care of it myself. I’ve got a gun. I’m going to take care of it myself. Hangs up on the 911 call taker,” Bloom said. Deputies rushed to the neighborhood but found no signs of a domestic dispute. Instead, Bloom said they found Townsend who approached them from the shadows outside the house. “They tried to just assess the situation. And take him, just put him into custody until they could figure out what was going on. Who’s got a gun? Does he have a gun? Because the last thing he told us was that he had a gun,” Bloom said. But then, Bloom said Townsend started fighting with deputies. “At that point, one of the deputies pulled a taser to try to subdue him and he took the taser from the deputy during the struggle,” Bloom said. “At which time, another deputy that was there, used deadly force at that point before he could do any damage with the taser on the deputies and disable them.”Bloom said that other deputy shot Townsend. All of the deputies involved are OK. The deputy who fired their weapon is on paid administrative leave as the FDLE investigates. Meanwhile, Townsend is in the hospital.Bloom said he is expected to survive. The sheriff’s office also expects charges will be filed against him. “At a minimum, he’s going to have a battery on a law enforcement officer and depriving an officer of their weapon among other charges,” Bloom said. He said investigators are trying to piece together why Townsend called for deputies Thursday night. “The big question that we all have is, ‘Why and why would you try to do this?’” Bloom said. “Last night, he was the only problem in the neighborhood.”WESH 2 reached out to Townsend’s family, but they did not want to comment.

https://www.wesh.com/article/the-villages-deputy-shoots-man/42368390