Orlando police, Orange deputies shoot, kill man in crisis wielding gun, officials say

Orlando police officers and Orange deputies fatally shot a man suffering a mental health crisis Thursday morning who was wielding a gun in a neighborhood just west of the Orlando International Airport, officials said.

Orlando police officers responded to a call from 74-year-old William Sellers who had reached out to a veteran’s crisis line because he was contemplating suicide, said Orlando Deputy Chief José Velez. Sellers also told the hotline that if “police gets called, there’s going to be blood,” according to Velez.

When officers arrived just before 9 a.m. to the home on Cashmere Drive in the Bermuda Village neighborhood, they encountered Sellers wielding a gun while he sat in a walker.

Velez said the officers, who also got backup from two Orange County deputy sheriffs, worked to de-escalate the situation for about 20 minutes.

“They begged him to put the gun down,” Velez said.

Body camera video released by OPD shows officers pleading with Sellers to put down the gun and “please let us help you.”

“Come on, man, we don’t want to shoot you,” one officer said on the video.

“I personally will do whatever I got to do to help you,” said another officer, who told Sellers he was a veteran. “We both served, right? We’re brothers. Brothers don’t leave each other behind.”

But at some point, Sellers made movements in a “threatening manner,” he said.

Four OPD officers and two OCSO deputies fired at Sellers, who died of his injuries. No officers or deputies were injured in the incident.

OPD did not identify its four officers by name because they invoked Marsy’s Law, which protects the privacy of crime victims.

Neither agency deployed its clinicians who respond to mental health crises because the man had a gun and made threatening statements, said Orange County Sheriff John Mina.

“We respond to armed suicidal people all year long,” Mina said. “The vast majority of those situations, even with firearms, are de-escalated because of the training we have.”

Both Velez and Mina, who are veterans, called the incident a “tragedy.”

“That’s why we urge people to reach out to get counseling when they need it,” Mina said. “If we’re going to call for help, we need to leave the firearms inside and not approach law enforcement with a deadly firearm.”

Mina said the Florida Department of Law Enforcement will investigate the shooting.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline provides free and confidential support for people in suicidal crisis or emotional distress 24/7 at 1-800-273-8255.