By Lise Fisher
Staff writer
Published: Monday, March 15, 2010 at 5:03 p.m.
WINDSOR - Edward Thomas Frey was shot and killed during a standoff with Alachua County sheriff's deputies Monday afternoon in Windsor.
The shooting occurred at 909 S.E. 127th Drive. It unfolded following a 3:22 p.m. 911 call.
After 6 p.m., the Sheriff's Office released his name and the fact that he had died. Officials later gave the following account of the standoff:
Frey's wife, Rhonda, called 911 and told a dispatcher her 57-year-old husband was "tearing up the house" and "being violent." She said Frey, who had a history of domestic violence, had been drinking all day and threatened to kill her and himself.
When the first deputies arrived, Frey was outside the double-wide mobile home with a handgun under his chin. His wife, the only other person at the home, ran out the front door.
Deputies issued loud commands for him to surrender his gun and turn himself in peacefully.
Seven or eight deputies responded, including members of the Immediate Response Rifle Team and the SWAT team and two hostage negotiators. One of the negotiators communicated with Frey.
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At this point Frey reportedly still has the gun pointed at his own head. Then he stopped talking and pointed the gun at deputies around the building.
Sheriff's spokesman Lt. Steve Maynard said deputies then shot at Frey. Maynard did not know how many shots were fired, but Frey was hit and fell to the ground.
"There was more than one deputy who engaged the suspect using deadly force," Maynard said. Deputies were not injured.
Officers reportedly attempted to resuscitate the man, who was flown to Shands at the University of Florida.
Frey had been on probation for trafficking in stolen property, according to the Florida Department Corrections Web site.
After the shooting, police set up a perimeter across from the Windsor Baptist Church. Representatives of police unions arrived. The Sheriff's Office began investigations into the shooting, and, as required by protocol, some deputies were placed on administrative leave.
Family members and friends were on hand to comfort Frey's wife. A relative who did not wish to be named said the family understood that Frey had been shot multiple times.
A neighbor, Gary Jacobs, 52, said Frey had lived there for about 10 years and that he ran a lawn maintenance service.
"Eddie was a good guy," Jacobs said. "He was a good neighbor."
Jacobs said he wanted to know why this had happened and remarked that it was the second law enforcement-related shooting in recent weeks. In the other incident, a University of Florida student was shot and seriously injured following a standoff with campus police.
"This was clearly an unfortunate incident," said Jeff McAdams, president of the local chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police. The union is representing two of the deputies involved in Monday's shooting.
It was a "very traumatic situation for them," McAdams said. "They live with this every single day."
Sheriff Sadie Darnell came to Windsor following the shooting. She had heard the situation unfolding on her radio.
She said it was approached in "a textbook fashion" with hostage negotiators on scene and with medical attention quickly provided. She described the incident as very dynamic and said the Sheriff's Office would do a thorough investigation into shooting and what led up to it.
A representative of the State Attorney's Office could not be reached for comment Monday night. However, fatal police shootings are usually reviewed by the grand jury.
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