Hospital releases wounded officer
Ex-convict who shot captain dies after SWAT team shootout
A bandaged Eustis police Capt. Gary Winheim walked out of Orlando Regional Medical Center on Friday after surgeons removed a bullet from his upper back in what authorities said could have been a life-ending injury caused by a wanted felon on the run.
“He got hit in the ear, it [the bullet] went into his neck and lodged in his back,” Eustis police Chief Gary Calhoun said. “Another millimeter or so, in another direction, and it could’ve been worse.”
Ex-con Jayson Colvin, who authorities said shot Winheim, was killed hours later Thursday in a gun battle by members of the Lake County sheriff’s SWAT team in a wooded area off County Road 450, near Altoona, authorities said.
Colvin, 38, a convicted felon who has been in and out of Florida prisons for nearly two decades, was wanted in connection with an armed robbery on Tuesday night at a Shell station near state roads 19 and 44 in Eustis.
“His behavior in the last couple of days has been pretty scary,” Calhoun said.
His mother, Diana Colvin, said Friday she was too distraught to talk about her son.
“It’s just too painful right now,” she said while sobbing. “I’m sorry.”
Police released few new details Friday regarding what led to the shooting of Winheim and the subsequent massive manhunt that involved about 500 law enforcement officers from local, state and federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Forestry Service.
“Right now, it’s all under investigation by the FDLE [Florida Department of Law Enforcement],” said Eustis police Officer Lauren Brown, a department spokesman, regarding the shooting.
Because Winheim, 49, was in charge of the department’s criminal investigations division and often worked undercover and drove an unmarked police pickup truck, he didn’t have a body camera nor a camera on his vehicle’s dashboard, which is standard practice for road patrol officers, Brown said.
Winheim, who has been with the Eustis Police Department for 20 years, was wearing his uniform when he was shot, Brown said.
In 2009, Winheim was awarded the department’s lifesaving award after working with other officers and firefighters in rescuing a 58-year-old man found floating face down in Lake Eustis.
In 2014, Winheim was cleared by the State Attorney’s Office after fatally shooting a man suspected of sexually molesting a 13-year-old girl.
In that case, Winheim — who was a sergeant at the time — joined Leesburg officers in visiting the apartment of Vernum Harold Blunk Jr., who authorities thought also possessed child pornography, according to reports.
After entering the apartment, officers said they saw Blunk pull out a handgun and commanded him to drop the weapon, authorities said. When Blunk refused, Winheim fired two shots, fatally hitting the man in the head and chest, according to reports.
A Lake County native and an Altoona resident, Colvin attended Eustis High School, according to his Facebook page. He was first sent to prison for a year in May 2001 after being convicted for armed burglary and grand theft with a firearm, according to state records.
He would go on to serve a nearly six-year sentence for grand theft, false imprisonment and eluding a law-enforcement officer from 2004 to 2010.
In 2011, Colvin was sent back to prison for possession of a weapon or ammunition by a felon. He was released in January 2018.
His most recent arrest came in March, when he was booked into the Lake County Jail on drug charges and resisting and obstructing an officer without violence, according to county records.
A a few days ago, Colvin posted a cryptic message on his Facebook page: “Well 2020 IS Upon Us, Now I’m Stepping DOWN to TakeOver!Now…It’s Begun, The Final Chapter”
Thursday’s incident began about 12:15 p.m., when Winheim was driving his unmarked police pickup near state roads 44 and 19 and heard gunshots coming from a Shell gas station.
He turned his vehicle around and headed to that spot, while calling police dispatchers to ask if there were any reported shootings. Police later said they found several bullet shell casings in the parking lot.
“As he [Winheim] was pulling into the parking lot, the suspect [Colvin] was pulling out at a very, very high rate of speed,” Calhoun said. “So the combination of the gunshots and the erratic driving, the captain turned to follow him.”
Colvin was a suspect in an armed robbery at the same gas station earlier this week when a man wearing a white hockey mask entered the store with a handgun, according to police.
Police officials said they wouldn’t release further details on the armed robbery or the incident report because it’s part of the ongoing investigation. They also couldn’t explain why Colvin would return to the gas station or the circumstances surrounding the shots fired that Winheim heard.
After traveling north on S.R. 19 and then east on S.R. 44 with Winheim
following, Colvin pulled his SUV over in front of a Winn-Dixie store.
“The suspect pulled over and stopped without an indication from Winheim,” Calhoun said. “The lights weren’t turned on….We feel pretty sure he [Colvin] knew who it was because he [Winheim] was in full uniform. He’s [Winheim] well known in the community, and so is his truck.”
As soon as Winheim got out of his truck, Colvin also stepped out and started firing his gun.
“Captain Winheim had no time to do anything,” Calhoun said. Colvin “just started firing,” hitting Winheim in the neck.
Colvin then apparently drove north on S.R. 19 and crashed through a gate into a junkyard near County Road 450, according to authorities. He then ran into a nearby wooded area.
Law-enforcement officers quickly set up a mile-wide perimeter and hunted for Colvin for hours. As the sun set, deputies on board a Marion County sheriff’s helicopter with high-tech equipment spotted someone hiding underneath a canoe.
“The pilot was able to ascertain that he had a handgun or a firearm,” Lake County Sheriff Peyton Grinnell said. “He [Colvin] ran into the wood line, at which point, my deputies were not able to see him anymore. The pilot was having to give my SWAT team element playby-play up to the point that they were about seven to 10 yards from him.”
Colvin then took up “a prone position and aggressive manner,” Grinnell said.
“It got hairy,” Grinnell said. “At some point he failed to comply with the SWAT teams’ commands and gunfire with several deputies was exchanged. And he is deceased. We knew we were dealing with an individual who had already shot on a law-enforcement officer.”