The tragedy unfolded last week in Orange County when deputies fatally shot 33-year-old Antonio Chez Scippio after he reportedly approached them with a knife. Scippio succumbed to his injuries on Sunday, as confirmed by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office. According to a report from WFTV, the deputies were responding to a distress call made at around 5:15 p.m. concerning a suicidal person at a home on Merganser Drive.
Deputies allege that Scippio, refusing their commands to surrender the weapon, did not drop the knife and continued to move toward them, which led to the fatal shooting. However, Gail Reed, Scippio's mother, recalls the events differently. "I told the officers. I said, Do not shoot my son. You can use a taser; do not shoot my son," she said in an interview detailed by WFTV. "Ma’am, get back. Get back, they said. They back out my front door, and they shot him."
The department detailed that its Behavioral Response Unit, initiated to deal with mental health crises, does not directly respond to incidents involving armed subjects, and such situations are initially handled by first responders to secure the scene. "A great majority of the calls we get involving people in a mental health crisis do not involve weapons, and once first responding deputies determine there are no weapons and no danger to our clinicians, the deputy/clinician team can engage the person in mental crisis," the sheriff's office said in a statement, WFTV reported.
Family members expressed their anguish and frustration, with Scippio's sister lamenting the tragic incident, describing it as catastrophic, and suggesting the outcome could have been different. "My mom is distraught. She blames herself for this. Her house is a crime scene. It's catastrophic. It's a nightmare," she said in a statement, as WESH reported. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement has taken up the investigation of the shooting, with the body-worn video set to be released within 30 days as per the usual protocol.
