Affidavit: Cocoa officer had been drinking, threatened to kill fellow officers
Cocoa Police Officer Patrick Kelly had a bad day at work, started drinking after he returned home, and threatened numerous people before starting an armed stand-off with Brevard County deputies, his arrest affidavit reported.
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Kelly, a 15-year veteran of CPD and an Army veteran, was arrested early Thursday morning on multiple charges after that stand-off, which lasted for hours and nearly caused evacuations from homes.
The document said Kelly occasionally threatened to shoot people after coming home from work, per his girlfriend and fellow CPD officer, and often quoted movies when doing so.
However, the girlfriend said she realized this time was different when Kelly attempted to stop her from telling her son not to come home and became physical when trying to take her phone away, something she said had never happened before.
She said she believed a dispute with his father had triggered Kelly.
Read: Deputies: Cocoa officer arrested after an hours-long standoff
Kelly was previously arrested for domestic violence in 2017, a charge that was later dropped, a CPD spokeswoman said. The arrest happened before Kelly began dating his current girlfriend.
The girlfriend warned deputies over the phone that Kelly had multiple fully loaded weapons inside the house, including a shotgun that he had loaded and fired as she was running away and others that he had laid out in the bedroom.
She said he also threatened to shoot his sergeant in the face, everyone else that worked at CPD, any deputy who responded to her call for help, herself and her son, the affidavit said.
Read: Cocoa Police officer allowed to keep job despite previous arrest
Deputies reported Kelly began firing at their perimeter as they set up during the stand-off. However, they were later able to get him to surrender peacefully.
The affidavit said Kelly later admitted he had a bad day at work and had been drinking. He explained that he accidentally fired his weapon, and the situation devolved from there.
Read: Osceola County shooting part of long-running feud, neighbors say
He also reportedly apologized to deputies for the scene he caused and said he only fired at the ceiling to scare them off and leave him alone.
Kelly remained in jail Friday night without bond after a judge decided he was a threat to the community and his girlfriend.
Kelly faces multiple charges, including aggravated assault without the intent to kill.
Cocoa Police said they suspended Kelly without pay, pending his termination.
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