MIDDLEBURG, FLORIDA -- A nine-year veteran of the Clay County Sheriff’s Office was shot and killed Thursday, Feb. 16, during an investigation into an illegal methamphetamine lab. A second detective was also injured and the shooting suspect was shot and killed, the Sheriff's Office said.
Detective David White, 35, was fatally injured when they confronted a suspect at a home at 4874 Alligator Blvd. around 6:25 p.m., Sheriff's Office spokesperson Mary Justino said. Detective Matthew Hanlin was also shot in the left arm by the suspect and was in surgery late Thursday night at Orange Park Medical Center. His condition is considered serious but stable, Justino said.
Officers responding to the scene attempted to save White, a married father of two young children, but he was declared dead after arriving at Orange Park Medical Center, Justino said.
Many CCSO members responded to OPMC to be with their fellow deputies and to assist the victims’ families during this very difficult time.
White and Hanlin were working as part of a nine-man team trying to determine if a meth lab was being operated inside the home. The two detectives approached the door of the home and encountered an adult male suspect who almost immediately began firing shots that struck both deputies, Justino said.
The armed suspect, whose identity has not been released, fled to the rear of the home where he was shot and killed by another sheriff's deputy with the team, Justino said. The suspect died at the scene.
Six men were in the home at the time of the incident. Five were taken into custody and detained for questioning. Justino said detecives are working to determine the identities and potential criminal backgrounds of all occupants of the home. Justino said one or more of them may have been living illegally in the home as “squatters”.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement will assist with both the investigation of the shooting and the meth lab, Justino said.
