VCSO Deputy Involved In Fatal Shooting During Domestic Violence Call In Seville

Date Added: August 04, 2018 1:00 am

Andrew Gant
Office of Public Affairs & Media Relations

VCSO DEPUTY INVOLVED IN FATAL SHOOTING DURING DOMESTIC VIOLENCE CALL IN SEVILLE

Warning: This body-camera video contains footage of a fatal shooting, and it also contains extremely strong language used during a tense altercation.

A Volusia County sheriff’s deputy responding to a domestic violence call in Seville on Friday evening shot and killed a suspect who grabbed the deputy’s Taser during a struggle and ignored repeated warnings to surrender.

The 29-year-old Seville man, Emmanuel Alquisiras (DOB 11/23/1988), was pronounced dead on the scene at 1600 N. U.S. 17 after the shooting occurred around 7:39 p.m. The deputy involved in the incident, Brandon Watson (hire date 5/18/2015) was not injured.

The deputy’s body camera captured footage of the shooting.

The deputy was responding to a report of an ongoing domestic disturbance between the suspect and his girlfriend. On arrival, the deputy spent several minutes speaking with the suspect and a friend on an outdoor stairway. Both were uncooperative. Eventually, when the suspect’s girlfriend came out and spoke to the deputy, the suspect grabbed her and engaged in a struggle with her at the top of the stairs.

The deputy intervened, deploying his Taser on the suspect and instructing him to put his arms behind his back. The suspect refused and struggled with the deputy for several minutes. During the struggle, the suspect grabbed the deputy’s Taser, and the Taser was discharged. The deputy fired multiple shots at the suspect, resulting in the suspect’s death.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement responded to conduct an investigation, and the deputy was placed on administrative leave, which is standard.

Additional information will be released in a future update.

UPDATE

We've seen a lot of questions from the news media and public stemming from the deputy-involved shooting that happened Friday in Seville. Many of you have asked why a backup deputy did not arrive on scene during the 12 minutes of body-camera video we provided.

At least two Volusia County sheriff's deputies are dispatched to all priority calls, including domestic violence-related calls. A second deputy was dispatched to Friday's call, too. However, that deputy was traveling from DeLand to the remote incident location in Seville, a distance of about 25 miles.

Seville is a rural unincorporated community with a Census population of less than 700 people. It falls within VCSO Zone 21 in the far northwest corner of Volusia County. The geographic area of Zone 21 is extremely large, but the law enforcement call volume there is extremely low compared to other areas of Volusia County. The county itself is 1,432 square miles, or 220 square miles larger than the state of Rhode Island. The reality has always been that fewer deputies are available to immediately respond to a call in Seville than in Deltona, for example, where population density and call volume are high. The video of Friday's incident is a clear illustration of that reality.

In this case, the deputy was conducting a well-being check on a female domestic violence victim who, according to third-hand information from the reporting party, was being battered by the suspect. We believe that had the deputy not approached the residence to check on her – and had she turned out to be injured or worse – then we would be facing a different set of questions today.

As in all cases, and especially in deputy-involved shootings, the Sheriff's Office is examining every factor that played a role in Friday's incident. The agency is taking steps to increase the number of deputies available to respond in a shorter amount of time in Zone 21, to request and receive aid from neighboring counties when needed and to communicate the status and location of backup units to the initial unit on scene.