A 30-year-old man has been identified as the person shot and killed during an hourslong standoff with police Tuesday in Fort Pierce.
St. Lucie County Sheriff Ken Mascara said Wednesday that the man who died was Gregory Vaughn Hill Jr., of Fort Pierce. Hill was shot after he pointed a handgun at two deputies, Mascara said.
The deputies, identified as Christopher Newman and Edward Lopez, were placed on paid administrative leave while the shooting is investigated.
An autopsy on Hill will be performed Thursday at the Regional Medical Examiner’s Office.
The standoff began at about 3:15 p.m. Tuesday after deputies were called to investigate a noise complaint at a house in the 1500 block of Avenue Q. A parent waiting to pick up her child at nearby Frances K. Sweet Elementary School called police and reported that someone at the house was playing obscene music that was loud enough for the schoolchildren to hear, Mascara said.
Two deputies went to the house and heard the music coming from the closed garage. The deputies knocked on the front door, but received no response.
They knocked on the garage door and someone opened it. The deputies saw a man — later identified as Hill — holding a handgun by his side, Mascara said.
They ordered Hill to drop the weapon.
However, Hill allegedly raised the gun and pointed it in the direction of the deputies as he simultaneously closed the garage door. Fearing for his safety, one of the deputies fired his handgun multiple times. The bullets penetrated the garage door and struck Hill, Mascara said.
The deputies were unaware at the time that Hill had been struck, Mascara said. A SWAT team and crisis negotiation team were called to the scene attempted to make contact with Hill.
A man who claimed to be Hill’s uncle said he’d made telephone contact with Hill during the incident. The uncle said that Hill was alive and unharmed, but afraid to come outside.
The standoff lasted for just under four hours. The SWAT team inserted a remote-controlled camera through the garage door and saw Hill lying on the garage floor. The SWAT team entered the home and found Hill dead.
Law-enforcement records show that Hill had a history arrests, most recently in June 2012 for drug charges and disorderly conduct. He was on probation for cocaine possession.
Newman has been employed by the sheriff’s office since October. He previously worked for four years as law-enforcement officer of the state Department of Business Professional Regulation, and for 10 years with the Fort Pierce Police Department.
He has no record of disciplinary action in his personnel file, Mascara said.
Lopez has been with the sheriff’s office since May 2004. He personnel records showed that he once was reprimanded for failing to report an off-duty detail, Mascara said.
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