Orlando Sentinel

A Volusia County deputy

- By Caitlin Doornbos Staff Writer cdoornbos@orlandosen­tinel.com

involved in fatal shooting Thursday at a Deltona gas station also shot and killed a suspect earlier this year.

A Volusia County Sheriff’s Office who shot and killed a man Thursday in a Deltona RaceTrac killed another man just three months before, officials said.

Deputy Shawn Adkins, 26, fired his weapon Thursday afternoon at Jose Guillermo Flores Colon, 37, after the man got hold of Adkins’ Taser during a struggle to arrest him inside the bathroom at the RaceTrac gas station at 2001 Saxon Blvd., according to an incident report.

Adkins joined the force in October 2015.

Flores Colon had been shirtless and running around the bathroom stalls for about and hour and a half before Adkins and another deputy were called to the scene about 4:20 p.m. In a 911 call before deputies arrived, a store employee told dispatcher­s he was afraid to enter the restroom.

Once on the scene, Deputy A. Chavez entered the bathroom and found Flores Colon and tried to handcuff him.

When Adkins arrived, he found the two struggling and tried to help by attempting to deploy his Taser on Flores Colon.

Flores Colon “grabbed it from Deputy Adkins’ hand” in the process, according to the report.

“Fearing for his safety since the male now had his Taser,” Adkins fired his gun, according to the report.

Flores Colon then “fell to the ground and was secured in handcuffs,” the report said. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Inside the bathroom, investigat­ors found a syringe believed to have been used for narcotics, according to the incident report.

Per standard practice, Adkins has been temporaril­y placed on administra­tive leave with pay and the Florida Department of Law Enforcemen­t is investigat­ing the shooting, said Andrew Gant, a Volusia County Sheriff’s Office spokesman.

Thursday’s shooting was not Adkins’ first. On March 16, Adkins shot and killed another man, also in Deltona.

In that shooting, he responded to Daniel A. Donarski’s home about 6:30 p.m. after Donarski’s wife said he was “off his usual medication­s and having a breakdown,” according to the Sheriff ’s Office.

In a 911 call, Donarski’s wife said he was “cussing up a storm and he punched some holes in the wall,” according to the Sheriff’s Office. She did not believe her husband was armed, but he knew there were weapons in the home.

About seven minutes after deputies arrived at the home, the Sheriff’s Office said Donarski came out with a shotgun and pointed it at Adkins.

Adkins ordered Donarski to drop the weapon. When he did not comply, Adkins fired his department-issued gun, killing the man, according to the report.

Adkins was placed on paid administra­tive leave afterward, and the FDLE investigat­ed that shooting, too. He was placed back on patrol March 29.

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