Florida SWAT sniper shot, killed man who fired 200 shots into homes
DAYTONA BEACH - A man accused of shooting at police and into homes on Thanksgiving near Ormand Beach was killed after an hours-long standoff with law enforcement.
Volusia Co. deputies were first called around 4:30 a.m. morning regarding a suicidal person, according to the sheriff's office, but he refused to go to the hospital with them. Hours later they received a call that he was shooting at a condominium building.
"This is Ormond Beach, By-the-Sea, we leave our windows open at night and our doors open at night, like we've never seen anything like this," said Jason Valiant. "We just heard gunshots, lots and lots of gunshots, but we thought maybe it was fireworks at first."
"Yeah, I don't think it's anything you've really seen before. When you see the facades of these buildings and the windows that are shot out in that," said Sheriff Mike Chitwood.
The sheriff said the gunman, identified as Joseph Difusco, was staying at an Airbnb and having a mental health crisis.
"His family tried to take an ex parte order out on him yesterday because they were so scared of him," said Chitwood on Thursday. "They were sleeping in their car and there was no negotiating with this guy. There was no anything."
Chitwood said he kept firing after his deputies and a SWAT team arrived, and left them no choice.
"He probably fired close to 200-plus rounds. There are rounds in people's homes. He shot at our negotiators, at the speaker on the truck. He shot at the SWAT truck when it pulled up," he said.
The sheriff said at one point Difusco retreated to a back bedroom.
"We were able to send in tear gas and kind of corner him, but it was obvious that he wasn't coming out. He was armed with at least a shotgun, a handgun and a tommy gun," said Chitwood.
After hours of back-and-forth, a SWAT sniper put an end to it by killing Difusco.
"My objective was to make sure that every single deputy went home for Thanksgiving dinner today, and that every single resident of that complex got to have Thanksgiving dinner today," said Chitwood after the standoff.
The sheriff said Difusco, a veteran from Connecticut, had a long history of mental health issues.
