Murder suspect shot by Indian River County deputy in Sam’s Club parking lot

Murder suspect shot by Indian River County deputy in Sam’s Club parking lot

Indian River, Fl (TreasureCoast.com – a murder suspect was shot by an Indian River County deputy in Sam’s Club parking lot today.

Seminole County deputies said the suspect is connected to the death of a 59-year-old Iraqi immigrant who was found dead at a mosque in Seminole County Thursday morning.

From the Seminole County Sheriff:

At approximately 8:45 AM today, deputies responded to a report of a possibly deceased male at the Husseini Islamic Center located at 5211 Hester Ave in unincorporated Sanford.
Upon arrival deputies located an unidentified victim on the grounds with significant injuries. The 59-year-old victim, a maintenance worker at the facility, was pronounced dead at the scene.
It was determined the suspect had broken into the facility and was involved in a altercation with the employee. A witness reported seeing the suspect leaving the area in the victim’s Chrysler Town & Country minivan.
A BOLO was issued and law enforcement made contact with the vehicle at a Sam’s Club parking lot in Indian River County. When confronted, the suspect was shot multiple times by Indian River County Deputies. He was transported to a local hospital.
Preliminary investigation indicated that the suspect and victim were coworkers. Upon further investigation, it was determined that was not the case. Detectives say the suspect, 38-year-old Ahmed Raslan, had been making irrational statements online. According to those statements, the suspect believed the mosque was his residence.

Investigators say there was no indication the suspect was an employee of the mosque or had been trained to work there, and that no one at the mosque knew who the man was.

An alert was placed for the suspect, which was when the person was seen in Indian River County driving the victim’s vehicle.

Indian River County deputies came into contact with the suspect in the parking lot, which is when the suspect took his hands out of his pockets before shooting finger guns at the deputies and tried to reach back into the vehicle. That is when the shooting took place, deputies said.

“He wanted to be shot,” said Indian River County Sheriff Eric Flowers. “The way that he pulls his fingers out and points them at the deputies, the idea that they didn’t shoot him when he did that, is great control. The fact that they didn’t shoot him at that point, but when he dove back into the vehicle, they had no choice. I mean he’s just acting crazy and I understand exactly why they did it.

Deputies said there were other people in the parking lot at the time of the shooting. He said there were possibilities of explosives in the murder that took place in Seminole County, so deputies took precautions at the scene in Vero Beach. The vehicle was cleared of any explosives before 6 p.m., but it’s still unclear whether any weapons were inside.

The suspect was transported as a trauma alert to HCA Florida Lawnwood Hospital, and his condition and identity are unknown at this time.

FBI and Joint Terrorism Task Force members were on the scene to continue the investigation.

You can click here for the entire press conference with Sheriff Eric Flowers.

 

 

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