EUSTIS, Fla. – A Eustis police captain was released from the hospital Friday, a day after he was shot in the ear and the bullet lodged into his back, according to an agency spokesman.
Eustis police spokesman Lauren Brown said Capt. Gary Winheim was doing well after the bullet was removed from his body.
Police said Winheim was shot by Jayson Colvin, who was later killed in a shootout with Lake County sheriff’s deputies.
According to police, Winheim was in the area of North State Road 19 when he heard gunshots coming from a nearby Shell gas station. No one was injured in the shooting, but details about what led to that gunfire are not known.
Eustis Police Chief Gary Calhoun said Winheim was pulling into the Shell gas station parking lot at about the same time Colvin was pulling out, so he turned around and followed Colvin down State Road 44. Even though Winheim didn’t activate his lights, Colvin pulled over on the side of the road and Winheim stopped behind him in his unmarked pickup truck.
“(Colvin) just immediately jumped out and started firing. The captain had no time to do anything, there was no engaging of any kind. (Colvin) just started shooting,” Calhoun said.
Authorities said a bullet struck Winheim in the ear before grazing his neck and lodging in his back.
Colvin fled the scene and was later spotted hiding under a canoe near a lake in Umatilla by a Marion County Sheriff’s Office helicopter pilot.
Colvin died at the scene after a shootout with deputies, officials said.
Winheim was flown to Orlando Regional Medical Center in stable condition. He was released from the hospital Friday and is expected to make a full recovery.
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