Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Two cops injured in shootout that left 1 dead
CASSELBERRY – James Lee Parran told 911 dispatchers he battered his wife and was planning to hurt others.
When authorities were lured to his Casselberry home in the dark, early hours of Saturday morning, he pulled out a shotgun and started firing.
Officers fired back.
Two were briefly hospitalized with what Casselberry Police Chief Larry Krantz called “superficial wounds.”
Parran was found dead in the doorway of his home. It’s unknown whether he was killed by police or by a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The shootout lasted only minutes, but the incident put a neighborhood on lockdown and sparked fear throughout the community as hundreds of law enforcement officers from around the region swarmed to the neighborhood to respond.
It started about 4 a.m. when officers walked up to Parran’s Crestview Drive home to try to talk to him. Instead, he picked up a shotgun and fired.
Four of the five responding officers returned fire.
Parran’s shotgun pellets struck two officers — Ryan McIntosh and Cpl. Adam Phillips.
“My officers acted admirably when faced with this situation,” Krantz said at a news conference Saturday morning. “Make no mistake about it, this was a deadly force encounter.”
He said Phillips had the worst injuries, with shotgun pellets striking his face and arm. A ballistics vest prevented further injuries.
The two other officers who shot at Parran, but were not injured, are Robert Blackwell and Cpl. Robert Judges.
Parran’s wife left the home before the shooting began, Krantz said. Police later interviewed her, and by midday, she was with her family. Her name was not released.
Police evacuated fewer than a dozen people from nearby homes during the incident as SWAT, along with the officers of agencies from across Central Florida, surrounded the house.
“They were able to contain [Parran and] keep him within the confines of his residence,” Krantz said. “They also were able to retreat and take measures to evacuate the injured officers who were on scene.”
Neighbor Billy Raye Carson Jr. was sleeping when he heard what he thought were fireworks. When he opened his front door, he was met with bursts of gunfire coming from two doors down.
“They were just blindly shooting at the house and started shouting for me to get back inside,” said Carson, 30.
Carson said as he was watching the chaos unfold from his doorway, he saw both cops get injured.
That’s when law enforcement retreated and threw a flash-bang into the home, he said.
Carson said he saw one officer with blood on his face and another carried away from fellow law enforcement. He estimated at least 50 or 60 gunshots were fired throughout the ordeal.
“All I could think was to get me and my roommates down and away from the windows,” Carson said, adding that his trailer was shot twice.
He said he was friends with Parran.
Carson said Parran was a military veteran who was always relaxing on his front porch. He said they talk frequently and there were no signs the suspect or his wife were having any problems.
“You could always hear him playing his country music,” he said. “He was a nice guy. Something must have just made him crack.”
Krantz said Parran had no history of violence and police had never been called to the home, aside from a recent noise complaint. Krantz said he believed Parran had been in the Marines.
Margaret Daly, 28, said she was coming home from her shift at Wendy’s when she saw officers zipping past her. Her mother called and told her to be careful, because gunfire kept going off. As she drove near the neighborhood, she saw at least 100 cars and could hear shooting.
Daly said officers from a slew of agencies were there, including Sanford, Winter Springs, Casselberry and Seminole County.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating, Krantz said.