Man killed after allegedly shooting at police officers at Fort Myers apartment complex
Residents hid in closets and under beds, barricaded doors and turned off lights as gunshots, some sounding like automatic fire, punctured nighttime routines Wednesday at a Fort Myers apartment complex.
Investigation of the shooting, which resulted in the death of the man who allegedly carried it out, has been transferred from Fort Myers police, who responded to scene, to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
A news release issued Thursday morning by Fort Myers police said officers were called shortly before midnight to an apartment at Vistas at Eastwood, with multiple 911 calls of gunshots being fired.
"Bam, bam," is how Jose Toribio, who lives in the same building and on the same floor as where the gunfire came from, described the incident.
"Pop, pop, pop," he said. "It was a bunch of pops, kind of like automatic."
The news release said officers were immediately met with gunfire by a male armed with a rifle at the development. Officers returned fire and began evacuations of surrounding apartments.
The news release said that after members of the Fort Myers police SWAT unit entered the apartment the man was confirmed dead. There were no other injuries reported.
Alleged shooter identified
Thursday afternoon FMPD Deputy Chief Jeffrey Meyers identified the alleged shooter as Ryan McFarland-Bauer, 29, and the sole occupant of unit 306, 4933 Eastwood Greens Street.
Meyers also said two FMPD patrolmen have been placed on paid leave, as is usual in officer-related shootings. Meyers also said it was not yet known if the officers, who fired their service weapons, were the cause of the death or if it was self-inflicted.
"These officers did exactly what they were trained to do," he said, adding that a peaceful resolution is sought: "Unfortunately, this doesn't always happen."
"We all ducked under the bed"
The apartments are described as luxury residences in a complex built in 2019, off Ortiz Avenue between Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Hanson Street.
Toribio, taking his children to school shortly before 9 a.m. Thursday morning, said the shooting was frightening.
"We all ducked under the bed," he said, adding his son heard the shots but his daughter, a heavy sleeper, snoozed through the incident.
Alec Howell and Alyssa Lutz live in the next building over and soon after they heard shots they took cover.
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"Right around 11:30 ... we heard what sounded like fireworks," Howell said. "After about 5-20 minutes I asked (Alyssa), 'Did you hear that?' And she said, 'Yeah, it's been going on for awhile.' "
Howell said the gunshots started getting closer and more rapid.
"So, I grabbed her, we barricaded the door, hopped in the closet," he said.
"At one point I was on the phone with my parents, and they heard it," Lutz added.
Howell said the shooting persisted for quite a while, with the couple calling 911 repeatedly.
"At some point in time the lines were busy," he said about the emergency call number. "They told us that FMPD had all of their calls routed to (Lee County Sheriff's Office)," Howell said.
The couple stayed in their bathroom closet until about 1:30 a.m. when 911 told them the incident was over.
For the couple, who said they have been tenants at the community almost from the start, the shooting was enough.
The couple said their water was turned off at some point because of the shooting, and they had to find an unused apartment to bathe.
"We're moving," Lutz said. "This was the cherry."
The couple said things have been "quietish" but with disturbances happening with regularity.
"It's been nuts, Lutz said.
Kalem Judson, Nelson Ortiz and Milly Sanchez were standing outside Thursday, talking about the shooting
"It sounded like someone was getting lit up," Judkins said.
Ortiz and Sanchez have lived at Vistas at Eastwood eight months, right next door to the shooting site and within sight of that building. They heard the shooting.
Sanchez said she called 911.
"They told us to turn off the lights," she said.
For Chayil Holsendolph, a one-year resident at Eastwood, things are usually quiet.
"Its unusual," she said about the shooting. "During the day there's never any cars here."
Under investigation
Thursday morning, FDLE agents were on the scene at the apartment building where the shooting took place. An agent with a metal detector was scanning ground outside the building where the shooting started and crime scene tape blocked off the main building as well as a building directly across a large pond from that site.
An FDLE officer declined comment saying their investigation remains active.
A representative of Norstar Development USA, the company that manages Vista at Evergreen, could not be reached for comment.
Court records for Monroe County, Florida, show a listing for a Ryan McFarland-Bauer, same age, with a Key West address.
A Facebook page for Ryan McFarland-Bauer lists him as a Naples resident from Key West and a former employee at the Bonita Springs Poker Room in information technology. The poker room confirmed the employment.
The officer-involved shooting Wednesday is the fifth in Lee County in 2022.
Lee County Sheriff's Office deputies were involved in shootings, one fatal, on March 17 and 27.
Cape Coral police officers were involved in shootings, one fatal, on March 29 and May 30.
Connect with breaking news reporter Michael Braun: MichaelBraunNP (Facebook), @MichaelBraunNP (Twitter) or mbraun@news-press.com.
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Man who shot at Fort Myers police officers found dead in apartment
