DELTONA, Fla. – A Volusia County sheriff's SWAT team member shot a man in the face and killed him Wednesday morning while serving a search warrant in Deltona as part of an ongoing drug investigation, according to officials.
The shooting took place around 6:30 a.m. at a home in the 800 block of Maybrook Drive.
According to the Volusia County Sheriff's Office, deputies were serving a narcotics warrant when someone in the house "advanced on a member of the SWAT team who was entering the residence."
Deputy Todd Raible, who is on the SWAT team fired one shot, hitting 26-year-old Derek Cruice in the face just inside the doorway of the home, officials said.
"We were shocked, I mean when we came out and saw all the cops and everything," said Juan Romero, who lives across the street from the home.
Cruice was taken by ambulance to Florida Hospital Fish Memorial in Orange City as a trauma alert patient, deputies said. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Friends left flowers and paid respects to Cruice. Cruice was arrested back in 2009 for drug paraphernalia and possession of cannabis, but nothing since then.
It's not known if Cruice had a weapon. Others inside the home -- three men and two women -- were not injured.
"Bunch of guys came around the corner and they're pushing me down," said Matthew Grady. "There's a couple seconds between opening the door, walking out, closing the door, getting to my knee. Then about half way to my knee there's gunfire."
"He really liked video games. He was into that nerdy stuff. He was a really nice guy. He really was," said Thomas Figueroa, a friend and coworker of Cruice.
"At this time, we don't know who are suspects and who may be witnesses," Volusia County Sheriff Ben Johnson said. "So everybody from the house was removed to be interviewed. The house has been emptied so the house can stay in the shape it was for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to conduct their investigation."
"I hope they found what they were looking for because the only thing that came out of this was murder and a dead guy," said Grady.
"As soon as the gunshot happened, I froze," said Steve. "Nobody resisted. There was no weapons. Nobody was making any kind of resistance or trying to keep anybody from doing their job."
"They were met with resistance and a shooting occurred," Johnson said.
No deputies were hurt in the incident.
"(Raible) is all right. Naturally, (though, he's) very shaken, and he will be interviewed," Johnson said.
Raible, 36, was hired by the Sheriff's Office in March 2005. He has been temporarily placed on administrative leave, which is customary in officer-involved shootings.
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