A man is dead after Pasco Sheriff's Office deputies opened fire outside a Hudson business Friday, October 2, 2026, following reports of an agitated person who was allegedly carrying a knife and refused repeated attempts at de-escalation. The shooting is now under investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and the deputies involved have been placed on paid administrative leave.
According to a community alert from the Pasco Sheriff's Office, deputies responded around noon Friday, October 2, 2026, after receiving reports of an agitated subject outside a business in the Little Road area of Hudson. The business had asked law enforcement to trespass the man from the property, the sheriff's office said. When deputies arrived, they observed the man carrying a knife in his hand.
Deputies made several attempts at verbal contact and de-escalation, the sheriff's office said, but the man ultimately confronted them while still holding the knife. Deputies then shot him, and he was pronounced deceased at the scene, according to the same release. The sheriff's office said there is no ongoing public safety threat connected to the incident.
Conflicting Reports on Where the Man Died
The man was pronounced deceased at the scene, the Pasco Sheriff said, while other outlets have given differing accounts of what happened afterward.
, the office's official X account, shared the community alert along with a portion of a deputy's body camera footage, carrying a sensitive content warning. WFLA reported that the man died from his injuries at a hospital, while a Yahoo News report similarly stated he was taken to an area hospital, where he later died. Hoodline could not independently verify which account is accurate.
There are also conflicting details about the man's identity. Fox 13 News reported that officials had not released the man's name because next of kin had not yet been notified. A separate report from Bay News 9 identified the man as 38-year-old Scott Youmans. Given these conflicting accounts, Hoodline is not stating a confirmed identity.
FDLE Investigation and Deputy Leave
As is standard in deputy-involved shootings, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement will investigate the incident independently of the sheriff's office. The deputies who fired their weapons were placed on paid administrative leave pursuant to department policy while that investigation unfolds. The sheriff's office said the investigation remains ongoing and that no additional information was available at the time of its release.
Florida law sets the legal framework under which deadly force by law enforcement, or any person, may be deemed justified. Under Florida Statutes Section 776.012, deadly force is permitted when a person reasonably believes it is necessary to prevent imminent death, great bodily harm, or the imminent commission of a forcible felony, and the statute imposes no duty to retreat when those conditions are met.
Part of a Wider Pattern in Florida
This fatal shooting comes amid a broader statewide conversation about how often law enforcement officers use deadly force. A recent review by CBS12 identified at least five fatal, on-duty law enforcement shootings across four South Florida counties through September 18, compared with eight recorded in all of 2025 and seven in 2024. That same report noted two separate Florida shootings in September that killed Rex Magann and Keaton Daucher within roughly 14 hours of each other, after calls for possible medical help and a noise complaint; the officers involved in both of those incidents were also placed on paid administrative leave as standard procedure.
CBS12's report also pointed to the FBI's latest National Use-of-Force Data Collection release, covering July 2024 through June 2025, which included agencies representing 78% of the nation's law enforcement population. No details from that federal dataset establish a specific nationwide total of incidents, since agency participation fell below the threshold needed for a complete count.
For now, the Pasco Sheriff's Office says the Hudson shooting investigation is ongoing and no further information is available. Hoodline will update this story as the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's review proceeds.
