BRANDON, Fla. — Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister said on Friday that the active shooter in Brandon fired 72 times on Thursday afternoon and had at least two firearms.
Chronister elaborated on the shooting during an unrelated press conference. He said he was a little "remiss" on Thursday to talk about the scope of the situation.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Shooter arrested in Brandon after firing at Hillsborough deputies
"I may have been a little remiss, a little remiss in making sure that everyone understands — this was an active shooter yesterday," Chronister said. "He had the intentions of inflicting injury, great bodily injury, even death on whoever one of those bullets struck."
Chronister said authorities discovered Daniel Lighty, 35, fired 72 times while they were processing the scene.
"That's 72 opportunities to kill or seriously injure someone in our community or one of those three responding deputies," he said.
Chronister said he couldn't properly convey just how proud he was of the deputies who responded.
"It's because of them that we can stand here today and say no one was injured," Chronister said.
Chronister said authorities know Lighty had at least two guns with him but at this time, don't know if there were any more or if he had additional magazines.
Chronister said the two guns could be seen in plain sight in Light's vehicle. He added that the sheriff's office is getting a search warrant for the vehicle so they can properly process it for evidence.
The sheriff added that Lighty made no comments after his arrest except that he was upset with the treatment he got at a local hospital during a "mental health crisis."
The sheriff said on Thursday that, at one point during the incident, Lighty called 911 and said the same thing. At that point, a crisis negotiator got on the phone and spoke to Lighty.
"At some point during this lengthy conversation, he said he wanted help. Our negotiator said, 'We will get you that help that you need. You just have to exit the vehicle,'" Chronister said Thursday. "He said, 'I don’t want to get shot.' The deputy assures him, 'You’re not going to get shot. Get out of the vehicle without the gun with your hands up, and you’ll be taken into custody peacefully.' And that’s exactly how this ended here today.”
On Friday, Chronister also said the body camera footage from the incident would be released "shortly" and will show just how deputies worked to deescalate the situation.
