Joseph Swansey, 23, of Point Blank (source: Facebook)
Details Emerge From Holiday Lake Estates Shooting, HOLIDAY LAKE ESTATES, March 7, 2017 -PolkCountyToday.com received an email regarding the shooting incident in the Holiday Lake Estates subdivision. According to Ashley, her ex boy friend, Joseph Swansey, 23, of Point Blank and her have been broken up. Ashley stated that she and Joseph were together for two and half years and that they had a son together who is now fifteen months old. Since the break up, Ashley has a new boyfriend. Swansey called her and told her that he was coming over to look for her boyfriend, Travis. The following is the contents of Ashley's email:
Joseph has been harassing me for several days. He called me this morning and told me he was looking for travis smith (my boyfriend) last night to come and kill him. This morning he called and said he was on his way that he wanted to see his son. Joseph and I were together 2.5 years we Have a 15 month old son. When he told us that he was coming we called the cops and they came out. 15-20 minuets later joseph called to make sure no cops were there. When Joseph pulled up he reached for something and travis yelled he had A gun. The officer pulled his and told jospeh to put his weapon down and Joseph began to fire. He had an automatic rifle, I grabbed two of three kids and ran inside. Travis grabbed the other kid and ran around the car. Joseph left an the cops started chasing him. When I came back out side, I heard more shots and joey pulled back around the corner and started firing again, once the cops caught up with him, he took off again. That was the last I saw joseph.
---end of email---
Original Story Below
Polk County Sheriff's Deputies stand over a detained suspect who allegedly is the shooter.
Shots Fired at Polk County Deputy, Suspect Detained, HOLIDAY LAKE ESTATES, March 7, 2017 - At approximately 9:20 am on March 7, 2017, Deputy Josh Sanders with the Polk County Sheriff's Office was driving in the subdivision of Holiday Lake Estates (believed to be on River Road) and was fired at. A man with a rifle shot the back of Deputy Sanders' vehicle multiple times (bullets grouped on the driver's side). At some point, the suspect crashed a white Chevy pickup off Drew's Landing Road as he left the pavement to the left, jumped a creek, and crashed between three trees. The suspect was detained and nobody was shot. Polk County Sheriff, Ken Hammack, Deputies and Detectives converged on the scene. An ambulance from Allegiance Ambulance Service was dispatched to examine the suspect. Prior to the arrival of EMS personnel, the suspect (name not yet released) was cuffed and laying on the ground and screaming incoherently at Deputies. The suspect was transported from the scene in cuffs by ambulance. Sanders' patrol unit and the suspect pickup were recovered by Ken's Towing.
Editor's Note: That's all the information that we have at this time. We'll update this story as soon as we get more information.
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Bullet holes (grouped tightly on the driver's side) and a shot out back windshield of the patrol unit driven by Deputy Josh Sanders sits in the 260 block of Drew's Landing Road in Holiday Lake Estates.
Deputy Josh Sanders (left) recounts his story.
The suspect (name not yet released) was screaming obsenities and was incoherent.
The suspect was transported from the scene by ambulance.
Polk County Sheriff, Ken Hammack (foreground) arrived to survey the scene.
The suspect left the pavement in a pickup and crashed through underbrush, jumped a creek and landed on the other side between 3 trees.
The suspect vehicle (lodged between 3 large trees).
Mixi, Molly, and Heidi were on duty for Polk County Today.com.
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