Who is suspected police shooter Gary Wayne Lindsey Jr.?
Gary Wayne Lindsey Jr. — a 35-year-old man on probation for arson — was identified Monday afternoon as the suspected shooter of Orlando police Officer Kevin Valencia, who had responded to a domestic violence call at Westbrook Apartments early Monday.
A woman reported that Lindsey had battered her, according to police Chief John Mina. After the shootout, Lindsey barricaded himself inside the apartment with four children, ages 1, 6, 10 and 11, police said.
Records show Lindsey is currently on felony probation, having pleaded no contest to charges of arson of a dwelling, willful fleeing or eluding law enforcement and domestic battery.
Those charges stemmed from a 2008 incident at a home on Dixson Street in Volusia County.
In that incident, a woman with whom Lindsey was in a relationship told Orange City police that, during an argument, Lindsey had grabbed a kitchen knife and begun stabbing the living room television. He then punched the TV screen with his fist, breaking it, before going to the bedroom, tearing another television off the wall, throwing it on the floor and jumping on it, an arrest affidavit said.
Lindsey told the woman to leave the home, the report said.
“You need to get the dogs and leave my grave,” he said, according to the affidavit.
The woman tried to call for help, but Lindsey broke her phone, the affidavit said. Then, he threatened to burn down the house, prompting her to take the dogs and leave, authorities said. After getting into her car, the woman told police she saw Lindsey retrieving two gasoline cans from the side of the house.
Soon after, firefighters arrived at the home to find it ablaze.
Sheriff’s deputies later apprehended Lindsey during a traffic stop. He smelled of gasoline and had “obvious burnt hairs to both arms,” the affidavit said. In the home, investigators found a gas can and “pour patterns” indicating that gasoline had been spread around the house, records show.
Since his no-contest plea, Lindsey has repeatedly been accused of violating his probation, records show. He was arrested at least twice in May, records show — once in Seminole County, after Sanford police said he stole from a Wal-Mart store, and again in Volusia County, because the Seminole arrest violated his probation.
Records show Lindsey was also arrested on domestic violence charges in 2012 after an incident involving another woman at an apartment on Silver Star Road in Orange County.
On April 12, 2012, a woman who said she’d been dating Lindsey for two years — not the same victim from the 2008 incident — told deputies Lindsey had grabbed her by the neck during an argument, then held a knife to her face and threatened to kill her, an arrest affidavit shows.
The woman was holding her 7-month old son during the incident, she told deputies, at one point losing her grip on the boy, who slid to the ground but was not hurt, according to the affidavit.
Lindsey denied having grabbed the woman or threatening her with a knife, records show. Prosecutors ultimately decided against pursuing charges against Lindsey in that case.
If was unclear Monday if either of Lindsey’s prior arrests involved the same woman who called Orlando police about 11:45 p.m. Sunday. Her name has not been released. Mina said the woman had been helpful during the lengthy standoff that followed Lindsey’s shootout with Valencia and other officers.