A suicide call lead Orange County Sheriff's deputies to a man’s home where the encounter left him dead.
- Family member tells deputy of suicide call during traffic stop
- Deputies stated that Williams Charbonneau would not listen to deputies' commands to drop his shotgun
- Three deputies are on paid administrative leave
William Charbonneau, 43, died in the shooting Wednesday around 10:30 p.m. He would have turned 44 years old on Thursday.
Investigators said the incident began when off-duty deputy Richard Nye, who was patrolling the Stoneybrook area, stopped a man for speeding, authorities said.
The man told Nye he was rushing to a home in Avalon Park because a family member was planning to commit suicide, authorities stated.
Once deputies arrived to the home along Marsh Lilly Drive — where the victim lived with his family — they said they surrounded the house and called for backup. Charbonneau left a suicide note behind, though investigators said it was not the first time his family was concerned for his safety.
“This is a situation in which the deceased had prior calls regarding cases of suicide attempts," explained Captain Angelo Nieves of the Orange County Sheriff’s Office in a press conference Wednesday night. "It was a situation today, where it was a tragic ending to the fact that he would not obey the deputies’ commands regarding his weapon.”
Investigators said deputies, along with the man's father-in-law, found no one in the home, but came across Charbonneau in the backyard. He was armed with a shotgun and would not obey deputies' commands, according to investigators.
Nye, a nine-year veteran of the force, shot Charbonneau several times. Paramedics took him to Florida Hospital East, where he died.
Two other deputies on — Nathan Alequin and Kathleen Perez-Thomas, a trainee — are on paid administrative leave, along with Nye, as the Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigates.