Charlotte County Sheriff addresses deputy-involved shooting

Reporter: Maddie Herron Writer: Julianna Perez
Published: Updated:

The Charlotte County Sheriff is speaking out on details behind the shooting of an unarmed man in his driveway by deputies.

On Wednesday afternoon, Charlotte deputies shot and killed 42-year-old Elroy Clarke after an altercation at Clarke’s home on Sandy Pine Drive.

Charlotte County Sheriff Bill Prummell said deputies responded to a 911 call made by Clarke, who asked to have someone removed from his property.

According to Prummell, the situation escalated after deputies discovered there was an outstanding warrant issued for Clarke.

“He charged one of the deputies and he actually got his hands on the deputy. The deputy had drawn his weapon and fired,” said Prummell.

Prior to shots being fired, deputies said they attempted several non-lethal methods of de-escalation to get the situation under control.

“Pepper spray was used a couple times, they tried to use the baton, hands on. Nothing phased this individual,” said Prummell.

Prummell said it was then that two deputies fired their guns at Clarke.

Clarke, who was unarmed, did not survive.

“You just never know what people think and do these days, so, like I said, a guy was trying to get somebody out of this property. A simple thing like that turned into something else,” Prummell said.

A video that appears to show the incident was uploaded to social media, leaving several members of the community with questions.

Pat Burke, who lives near Sandy Pine Drive, said that when he first heard of what happened, only one thing came to mind.

“I want to see the body camera footage. I’d like to see what really went down,” said Burke.

In response to the video, Prummell said he does not believe that what was captured portrays an accurate depiction of what occurred.

“It doesn’t show everything that went down,” said Prummell. “It shows a piece of what went down just towards the end, and it is very shaky, so you really can’t see everything that is going on.”

As of Thursday, the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office said they do not yet have a timeline of when body cam and dash cam footage of the incident will be released.

Copyright ©2024 Fort Myers Broadcasting. All rights reserved.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without prior written consent.