GLEN ST. MARY, Fla. – A Baker County man who shot his neighbor during an argument was later shot and killed by deputies after he opened fire on them, Sheriff Scotty Rhoden said Thursday.
Rhoden said deputies were called to Whippoorwill Lane, a rural road north of State Road 100 near the Lake Butler line, after reports of a shooting.
Investigators learned a man, whose name has not been released, got into an argument with his neighbor and shot him. The neighbor was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, and the shooter barricaded himself in his home, Rhoden said.
He said deputies tried to talk the man safely out of the home, but he fired at the deputies, who eventually returned fire, killing the man.
"We tried everything we could to get this individual to surrender to us without any harm to him or our deputies," Rhoden said. "Hours and hours of negotiating with him, trying to get him to come out and surrender. He didn’t want to, and that’s when he engaged our officers, and we engaged back."
The sheriff asked the community to remember all those involved in their prayers.
"This family lost a loved one and these officers went through a tragic event," Rhoden said.
No deputies were hurt, authorities said.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement was called to the scene to investigate.