TAMPA, Fla. — The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office says a deputy has been involved in a shooting at the River Pointe Apartment complex in Tampa.
According to Sheriff Chad Chronister, a mother made a 911 call this morning at about 9:40 a.m saying her 22-year-old son was trying to stab her.
When deputies arrived nine minutes later they found the mother with a cut on her hand, according to Chronister. That's when deputies went into the apartment where the son was.
The sheriff said at that point, the son ran into the apartment and three deputies went after him.
Chronister said the "details are still unfolding," but when deputies got inside the apartment the man was holding a weapon, putting the deputies in fear for their lives.
A K-9 deputy deployed a dog on the man before all three deputies fired on him.
Sheriff Chronister said the man, Romello Barnes, died at the scene.
The mother was taken to the hospital where she was told her son had been killed.
The deputies involved were Michael Guerra, who has been with HCSO since 1999; Matthew Moyer, who has been on the force since 2004; and Jomar Morales Colon, who just started with the sheriff's office in January.
Chronister said none of those deputies have used deadly force before today.
According to Chronister, the family has only been in Florida for about a year.
Since early 2019 there have been several calls to the sheriff's office from the apartment where the mother and son live.
Chronister said that three of those calls were mental health calls, three were for domestic violence and two were for sexual offenses.
However, Barnes was never Baker Acted by the sheriff's office. The most recent call came on Dec. 2. Chronister said the mom called 911 that day saying her son had some mental health issues.
The deputy who responded to that call reported that Barnes "did not meet the threshold for a Baker Act at that time," Chronister said.
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