Tampa Cop Begs Distraught Man In His Truck To Not Pull Gun For 4 Minutes, Ends In Tragedy

Deputies fatally shot a man who they say “motioned for a gun” as they were trying to arrest him on outstanding warrants Tuesday night, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.

Dylan Ray Scott, 27, died at Tampa General Hospital after he was shot by deputies outside a McDonald’s restaurant at 11007 Bloomingdale Ave., near the intersection of Providence Road, deputies said.

According to the Sheriff’s Office, the office sent out an alert to other law enforcement agencies in July after Scott’s mother contacted a detective to report her son had left a note at her house saying he was pursuing “suicide by cop.”

Deputies had arrest warrants accusing Scott of grand theft and resisting arrest.

Deputies located Scott about 10 p.m. Tuesday sitting in a pickup truck parked at the McDonald’s, according to a Sheriff’s Office news release and details provided by Sheriff Chad Chronister during a news conference. A woman was sitting in the truck’s passenger seat.

Deputies approached Scott, told him he was under arrest and ordered him to get out of the truck.

“Instead of surrendering himself, he punched the gas on his truck, went out of the parking lot, down the ravine, the embankment, and out into the busy road here on Bloomingdale Avenue at which time he struck an innocent driver who was driving on the roadway,” Chronister said.

As some deputies helped the injured motorist, who was driving a minivan, other deputies talked to Scott. He refused to get out of the truck, told deputies a number of times that he had a gun and refused to show his hands, Chronister said. Deputies were able to get the woman safely out of the truck.

“The deputies did an absolutely textbook job of trying to get him to surrender himself, stopping short of begging him not to reach for this firearm that he said that he had,” the sheriff said. “They kept pleading with him to, ‘Show us your hands, show us your hands.’ He kept saying, ‘I have a gun.’”

Chronister said Scott then “takes that overt action to reach toward the firearm where he said (it) was located,” and the deputies opened fire, striking Scott a number of times.

No deputies were injured. The driver of the minivan was taken to a hospital after complaining of chest pains.

The Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which is investigating the shooting, confirmed investigators did not find a gun in the truck.