PALM COAST, Fla. (Flagler County Sheriff’s Office) – After attempting for seven hours to help end a domestic violence situation peacefully, a Palm Coast Plantation woman sadly committed suicide.
It all began just before 8 a.m., Sunday, when the Sheriff’s Office received a 9-1-1 call in regards to an armed domestic violence situation that was occurring inside a home in Palm Coast Plantation. It would come to an end when the woman was seriously injured with a self-inflicted gunshot wound just before 3 p.m.
Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly and Deputies, FCSO SWAT and Crisis Negotiation units worked with Flagler County Fire-Rescue, Palm Coast Fire Department and Palm Coast Technology throughout the day at the Emerald Lake Drive scene in an attempt to de-escalate the situation.
The husband was initially held at gunpoint by the woman, but he and a child were able to be rescued by deputies shortly after the standoff began. However, for the next several hours, attempts to communicate with the armed woman through various means were unsuccessful.
“She was refusing to communicate. So we used our robot, drones and other technology in hopes of communicating with her,” Staly added. “Based on our technology, we observed her holding the gun in a suicidal manner. We knew from the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office in a prior nine-hour standoff with her that she would not communicate and a tactical resolution would be the only solution.”
Because of the threat to the neighborhood, and her lack of responsiveness to communicating with the Crisis Negotiation team, tactical gas was deployed. The woman went into the home’s lanai holding a gun to her head and started to walk into the pool. Deputies used non-lethal weapons in an attempt to disarm her, but she shot herself in front of deputies while in the pool. Deputies immediately pulled her from the pool and began emergency first aid. Flagler Fire-Rescue, who was already on the scene, immediately began performing lifesaving measures and transported her to Advent Health-Palm Coast. She was later flown to Halifax Health Medical Center in Daytona Beach where she would later die from her self-inflicted injury.
“We did all we could to end this incident peacefully without injury,” Staly said. “I’m proud of our team that did everything they could to resolve this situation peacefully. This is not the outcome we were hoping for. But in these situations, we do not control the outcome. Fortunately, no deputies, neighbors or the family members were injured during this almost eight-hour incident. Our prayers go out to the family as this is a sad and difficult time for everyone involved.”
[The woman was identified as 43-year-old Julie Demers.]
