Kelly Hayes
The State Attorney’s Office for the 13th Judicial Circuit has found the four Hillsborough County Sheriff deputies involved in the deadly shooting of a 27-year-old justified in their actions.
After reviewing body camera footage and evidence from the scene, the State Attorney’s Office determined Sergeant Michael Hannaford, Corporal Steven Schneider, Deputy Devin Wooden, and Deputy Timothy Miskell were justified in their use of deadly force against Dylan Ray Scott on Dec. 8.
The office found the deputies were justified under Florida’s Stand Your Ground law because the deputies mistakenly believed Scott had a gun.
The incident that led to Scott’s death involved a brief stand off with deputies, who tried to arrest Scott on multiple outstanding warrants.
The incident began when officers approached Scott while he was pulled over in a McDonald’s parking lot in Riverview. But, when approached by deputies, Scott fled and crashed into a civilian’s car on Bloomingdale Avenue. Deputies approached Scott’s crashed vehicle in the roadway and attempted to take him into custody.
There, Scott, while in his truck, concealed his hands and told deputies he was armed, to which the officers ordered Scott to show his hands and attempted to de-escalate the situation.
A deputy shot the suspect after Scott quickly raised his arm toward one of the deputies as if he was going to shoot him. Scott, it turned out, was unarmed.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement conducted the investigation, and a representative from the State Attorney’s Office responded to the scene.
In addition to the body camera footage from the deputies, there is also video from a Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office helicopter that captured the incident from the initial encounter, to the automobile crash, to the fatal shooting.
There was one passenger in the truck with Scott — his ex-girlfriend, who was pulled out of the car after the crash and before the shooting. She said that before the incident, Scott had made statements that he would not go back to jail and would force law enforcement officers to kill him.
Scott had a prior run-in with law enforcement back in July 2020. At that time, deputies attempted to arrest Scott for on active warrant, but he fled and was able to get away.
After that incident, Scott sent ominous Facebook messages to his mother.
“Well I’m not gonna be around much longer mom I’m not letting them take me to prison I got something that will give them no choice but to shoot me,” he wrote.
An autopsy performed by the Hillsborough County Medical Examiner’s Office found that Scott was shot 11 times in his head, shoulder, chest, and the left side of his body.
“After our thorough analysis, we have determined that the facts and evidence of this incident prove that the law enforcement officers reasonably believed they were in fear of imminent death or great bodily harm when they used deadly force. They also did not have a duty to retreat,” the State Attorney’s office conclusion read.
