The shooter in Ormond-by-the-Sea fired 700+ rounds at neighbors and deputies before being killed by law enforcement.
After the shooter opened fire at neighbors’ homes at Kingston Shores Condominiums in Ormond-by-the-Sea and at responding deputies, local law enforcement made every effort to convince him to surrender peacefully. Ultimately, a Volusia Sheriff’s Office SWAT sniper fired the round that ended the threat.
The Central Florida shooter, Joseph DiFusco Jr., was a military veteran, a convicted felon out of his home state of Connecticut, and the subject of a pending ex parte order in Volusia County due to a series of extreme mental health episodes that included delusions, hallucinations, manic behavior, and threats to his wife’s and daughter’s lives.
Following the incident, two Thompson submachine guns, a .45 caliber handgun and a 12-gauge shotgun were recovered from inside DiFusco’s condominium.
Several neighboring units were damaged by gunfire, but no neighbors, bystanders, or deputies were injured.
“Thank God not a single one of them struck an innocent person, and thank God for the safety of my deputies,” Sheriff Mike Chitwood said. “We also have to thank great training and great equipment. Including things like ballistic shields, drones, the SWAT Bearcat, and the Rook. There are critics out there who like to say that equipment makes us ‘militarized.’ When a shooter with a Tommy gun is firing 700 rounds, or when he’s barricaded in his house and setting it on fire like we saw last year in Deltona, I want my Volusia Sheriff’s Office deputies protected by the best equipment we can give them.”
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is conducting an investigation into the incident, as is standard in deputy-involved shootings.
