‘Watch his hands!’ Florida man, 79, is shot after standoff with cops at gas station
A Florida gas station turned into a crime scene on early Saturday morning.
According to a Facebook post from the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office, a 79-year-old man was arrested after threatening a deputy.
The agency released bodycam footage to show how the frightening incident went down. You can see a deputy talking to a man in his car by the pumps at a RaceTrac in Hudson.
According to authorities, the man, later identified as James Zambrotto, was spouting off about wanting to commit acts of violence.
“He starts talking to the deputy… he starts rambling stuff about how he wants to kill somebody, Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco told reporters after the incident. “He wants to drive his vehicle into the gas pumps to kill people.”
The deputy tried to calm the customer down for about 15 minutes.
“You need to go home, man,” the officer tells the man who is sitting behind the wheel.
“I want to go home,” the man says.
“What are you going to do?” the deputy continues.
“Don’t worry about what I’m going to do.”
“I just want you to be home and be safe, James,” says the deputy who recommends they go inside for a coffee.
“I’ll buy you a water or a coffee or something like that.”
The driver continues to ramble about his “emergency lights being on” while the deputy, calling him “Bubba,” tells the suspect to put his car in neutral.
“Can you listen to me? Can you listen to me, James?”
Backup arrives.
“We’re trying to reach out to see if you’re OK,” says another deputy.
Zambrotto continues to ramble that he has enough gas to drive five or six more hours.
According to the recording, officers talk among themselves, saying they are running a tag for a so-called Silver Alert for seniors who are reported missing and may have dementia.
They ask him the name of the president.
“Biden,” the man answers then circles the conversation back to hitting gas pumps.
“You don’t seem like the type of person who wants to hit anybody,” says an officer.
“Don’t come any closer,” says Zambrotto. “I’m telling you what I’m going to do.”
Then: “Shoot me now. Eventually I’m going to die anyway.”
The de-escalation process continues for a number of minutes with the deputies trying to unsuccessfully get the driver to put his car in park.
Spikes are laid down in front of his sedan so if he moves, his tires will flatten.
“What are you trying to do here, bud?”
Suddenly, the officers realize the man has a gun.
“Put the gun down NOW” the deputy screams. “I do not want to do this, sir! Please do not do this! I see it. It has a brown handle.”
The officer continues to plead: “Please don’t do this! I don’t want to live with this, please do not.”
Zambrotto is pepper-sprayed inside his car, which lurches forward and rams the patrol car.
A deputy smashes open the window with a punch tool while another outside yells, “Someone watch his hands! His hands! He’s got the gun!”
Numerous shots are fired. “Hands up!”
Finally, silence: “He’s alive,” a deputy says.
No deputies were injured; the suspect remains in ICU at a local hospital.
“These are the tragedies that we deal with every day,” Sheriff Nocco said. “I’m very proud of our deputies and for the fact that they tried to de-escalate the situation.”
