Brevard County (Florida) Sheriff’s Office released the heart-pounding video showing the moment two deputies were ambushed by a career criminals who was free on bond.
The intense gunfight ended with the deputies barely escaping with their lives as they managed to put down the criminal.
Brevard County Sheriff's deputies Brian Potters and Tyler Thoman were conducting a traffic stop on Aug. 30.
Dash cam video shows Thoman speaking to the woman outside her vehicle while Potters speaks to the passenger in the backseat.
There reportedly is a 2-month-old baby and a dog in the car.
As Potters walks off after chatting with the passenger, that passenger exits the vehicle and begins firing at the deputies.
Here's the raw video, showing how it all went down in less than a minute.
The gunman was later identified as 38-year-old Paris Wilder, a career criminal with 40 previous arrests including 23 felony arrests.
From the Brevard County (Florida) Sheriff’s Office press release:
“When the suspect was asked to exit the vehicle, Wilder immediately opened the door armed with a rifle and began shooting at the deputies. Deputies returned fire in an effort to save their own lives, as well as the lives of others at the scene, which included a 2-month-old infant located in the rear of the suspect vehicle. During the exchange of gunfire, one deputy was shot in the lower leg and sustained a non-life threatening injury. The injured deputy was also attacked by Wilder with multiple strikes to the head with the butt of the rifle. As the attack on the injured deputy continued, the original deputy was able to end the threat by using deadly force and shooting Wilder.”
Wilder’s weapon had apparently jammed, so he used the butt of the rifle to bash the head of Deputy Potters who sustained a broken sinus and orbital bone.
Deputy Thoman managed to shoot Wilder as he stood over Potters beating him. Deputy Thoman emptied his 2nd clip into Wilder to ensure the threat was eliminated.
More than 61 rounds were fired in less than one minutes during the firefight.
Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey said “I'm just extremely thankful that our deputies are safe and the suspect is no longer on this planet where he could put someone else's life in peril."
He told reports that he spoke to both deputies to let them know:
“how proud I am for the way they responded to this extremely violent thug who ambushed and attempted to kill both of our Deputies as well as put other lives at risk, including a 2-month-old baby who was in the backseat of the car where the suspect first began firing from."
Sheriff Ivey added (emphasis added):
"As I have said several times before…if you point a gun at one of my Deputies you just guaranteed yourself a trip to one of three locations…the hospital, the morgue, or if you are real lucky…the hospital and jail!... I'm just extremely thankful that our deputies are safe and the suspect is no longer on this planet where he could put someone else's life in peril."