TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Two deputies from the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office are on the mend in a local hospital after being shot in an incident involving a suspect in Ruskin on Thursday.
Deputies Sopharmony Muon and Colton Daniels responded to an apartment on West Shell Point Road just before 10 a.m. This came after a woman reported her ex-boyfriend, 34-year-old Christopher Dmuchowski, held her captive at gunpoint the previous night.
To safely monitor the scene, deputies deployed a drone over the parking area and observed Dmuchowski leaving his apartment and approaching a vehicle. Muon, 33, was the first to engage with him, at which point the suspect shot him in the face and hand. Subsequently, Dmuchowski also targeted Daniels, who remained in his patrol car, hitting him in the neck.
During the confrontation, a third deputy, Sergeant Harrison Bashner, managed to shoot Dmuchowski from behind. The suspect was later declared dead at the hospital around 12:30 p.m.
Muon and Daniels were air-lifted to Tampa General Hospital for treatment. They remained hospitalized on Friday.
“The deputies are doing well,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement Friday. “Muon will likely undergo surgery at some point today. No word yet on when either will be released, but both are in good spirits.”
Sheriff Chad Chronister visited the deputies Friday morning, calling their recovery “a miracle before our eyes.”
“These deputies put their lives on the line for our community, and their strength through this recovery has been nothing short of inspiring,” Chronister said. “Thank you for the prayers and overwhelming community support.”
Muon has worked as a HCSO deputy for two years, while Daniels has been with the sheriff’s office for four years. Bashner, the third deputy who shot the suspect, has worked for HCSO for 28 years.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the use of deadly force in the shooting.