New Smyrna Beach Police Officer Wounded in Shooting.

Written by Kristen Schmutz

Belden Communications News

An armed suspect who fled from Port Orange shot and wounded a New Smyrna Beach police officer before police and Volusia County Sheriff Deputies returned fire, killing the suspect.

The incident took place Saturday, around 4 p.m. near Nova Road and Spruce Creek Road, when a Port Orange Police Officer attempted to conduct a traffic stop on a driver in a green Lincoln sedan.

The driver took off fleeing the traffic stop, recklessly at a high-speed. Officers followed the car at a distance as it headed toward New Smyrna Beach.

Officers in New Smyrna Beach deployed stop strips in the road, in the area of Turnbull Street and Industrial Park Avenue, which caused the car to crash just outside a storage facility. The suspect bailed from the vehicle and started firing at police, the officer who deployed the stop strips was shot by the suspect, who was later shot and killed by return fire.

The names of the deceased, the officers, and the deputy involved in the incident will be released at a later date, according to police.

Bodycam footage of the incident will be made available in a future update, as the shooting is under investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

The officers and deputy-involved have been temporarily placed on administrative leave, as is standard.

Sheriff Mike Chitwood and New Smyrna Beach Police Chief Mike Coffin were each on the scene following the shooting and commended the bravery of the officers and deputies involved.

Sheriff Chitwood and NSB Police Chief Coffin held a joint press conference Sunday at the New Smyrna Beach Police Department Sunday addressing the incident.

“I have watched the body camera footage of the shooting and the events leading up to it, and soon you will see it too,” Sheriff Chitwood said. “What you’ll see is unflinching courage from the police and deputies who heard gunfire and ran toward it.”