DAVENPORT, Fla. — A deputy is lucky to be alive after a shooting Wednesday night in Davenport because of his bulletproof vest.
“This is the second event where I had a deputy shot in eight days,” said Sheriff Grady Judd.
Sheriff Judd said it happened just after 10 p.m. Two deputies responded to a family disturbance in the Tanglewood Preserve subdivision.
“Dialed 911 and said my estranged husband is outside. He's threatened us. He's become aggressive and as a result of that, we need deputies out here,” said Judd.
Judd said when deputies arrived, the suspect wasn't there, but he later came back.
The suspect, identified as Gabriel Batista, 41, drove by the two marked patrol cars and confronted the deputies. Batista, according to Judd, had his hands behind his back and refused to show them to deputies.
While one of the deputies prepared to tase Batista, he fired and hit Deputy Harodis "Tony" Nunez in the chest, authorities said.
“The suspect shot at Deputy Nunez six times. He struck him one-time center mass, right in the center of the chest, out of the six shots,” said Judd.
The bullet was stopped by the bulletproof vest that Deputy Nunez was wearing.
Nunez returned fire, and Batista dropped the weapon. He was not injured. Batista is being charged with Attempted First Degree Murder of a law enforcement officer.
After his arrest, Batista told detectives that when he learned law enforcement responded to the residence, he chose to return to commit "second-hand suicide."
Deputy Nunez has been treated and released from the hospital.
“That vest clearly and unequivocally saved his life. That was a dead-center shot into his heart, and I believe that Saint Michael and the good Lord had a lot to do with it because those other five rounds missed,” said Judd.
