CLEARWATER -- A 33-year-old suspect is dead following an early morning deputy-involved shooting in the Greenbriar neighborhood in Clearwater.
Police Chief Dan Slaughter says Josue Arias broke into a home in the 21-hundred block of Indigo Drive around 3:30 Tuesday morning, and held his ex-girlfriend and another man hostage for a time. Before he broked in, the ex called 911 and said Arias was at the front door and she was afraid she and her current boyfriend would be killed.
Both were able to get away, but Slaughter says Arias eventually walked outside and appeared to be scoping the area where deputies were located....
Arias reportedly said that he wasn't going back to prison and that he was going to die, as overheard by the 911 operator.
Sheriff's deputies tried to negotiate with Arias, who at one point walked out with a gun held to the other man's head. He ran off and Arias retreated inside, then came back out waving a handgun. Deputies fired, fearing for their safety and that of the neighbors. Arias was pronounced dead on the scene. Four deputies are listed as having fired weapons: William Byrd, Cameron Frame, Cristian Miller and Claudio Dimundo. They're all on paid administrative leave as a task force of detectives from four city police departments investigate the shooting.
Even though the case was handled by Pinellas deputies, the shooting investigation will be run by a task force composed of members of four city police departments. That's why the Clearwater police chief was the one taking questions at a news conference.
Photo: Clearwater Police