Man gets probation for gun standoff with deputies Gunfire rocks Boynton
A man who fired shots in his West Boynton home and pointed a gun at deputies will avoid going to prison under a plea deal approved Wednesday.
Timothy Dillon, 49, pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated assault with a firearm on a law enforcement officer, and one count of shooting into a building. He also pleaded guilty to a charge of resisting an officer with violence over an incident at the Palm Beach County Jail five days after his arrest.
Under the plea deal, he will serve three years of probation in his attempted “suicide by cop.” The first two years will be served on house arrest.
Since 2016, Dillion has been serving a three-year probation sentence on a federal gun charge over the same episode on Aug. 17, 2013 in the 7000 block of Brunswick Circle.
He had faced four felony state charges punishable by a total of up to 50 years in prison.
When the case was headed for a trial, Dillon’s attorney, Richard Lubin, had planned an insanity defense. He said Dillon’s violence resulted from delusions caused by a “ragebased depression,” as the businessman struggled with an addiction to painkillers following car accidents in 2008 and 2010.
It culminated when Dillon, a married father of two who ran a wholesale poultry company, decided one day he had enough. With his revolver pointed at his head, announced “it’s time to check out.”
A friend dialed 911 as Dillon fired rounds in the floor of his home in the Bristol Lakes development. That led to a five-hour standoff with a SWAT team. Finally, Dillon stepped outside his front door, pointed his gun at two sheriff's deputies and taunted them to “get this over with.”
Seconds later, a deputy fired four rounds from his rifle, hitting Dillon once in the right shoulder and dropping him to the ground. Dillon berated the deputies for failing to “get the job done.”
He later denied intentionally pointing his gun at the deputies and said he was grateful no one else was hurt in the ordeal.
As part of the plea deal, Dillon agreed to forfeit an arsenal of 41 weapons, including antiques from the Civil War and World War II, which were in the home during the confrontation with the deputies.
Since the beginning of the New Year, the city of Boynton Beach has been plagued by numerous incidents of shots fired, police said.
No one has been struck by the gunfire, a police spokeswoman said Wednesday, but the Boynton Beach Police Department has investigated at least nine incidents in the first 17 days of the year and is looking into the possibility that the shootings are connected.
In the most recent incident reported at 9:53 p.m. Tuesday, bullets narrowly missed family members who were watching TV in a living room in the 600 block of Southwest First Street, records show.
There, police found 30 shell casings in the roadway and driveway. A car was struck numerous times and several projectiles struck the house and entered the home near where the family was watching TV, records show.
“We are deeply concerned about the shootings currently plaguing the city,” Chief Kelly Harris said in a statement Wednesday. “Our personnel are working hard to identify the persons involved and swiftly take them into custody. We remain steadfast in our commitment to keeping the community safe.”
The first two incidents happened Jan. 3 at 1:02 a.m. and 9:01 a.m. in the 1400 block of Northwest First Court, said Stephanie Slater, the police agency’s spokeswoman.
Another report of four shots fired was received at 10:41 p.m. Jan. 11 in the 300 block of Orange Street, Slater said. When police responded, they found a 2001 Mercury Gran Marquis parked outside the residence with what appeared to be a bullet hole in the rear window.
Two more incidents were reported a day later on Friday, Slater said.
In one of the shootings Friday, police found more than 50 shell casings from several different caliber guns at Northeast 12th Avenue and Second Street.