March 6, 2009
Gary Davidson
Public Information Officer

STANDOFF ENDS WITH CAPTURE OF SUSPECT WHO SHOT AT DEPUTY

The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office made its way into a house south of DeLand just before 6 p.m. Friday to arrest a suspect accused of firing at a deputy. The arrest of 21-year-old Gary Jamel Cannon, Jr. brought a 4-hour standoff to a close. No shots were fired and no one was injured during the standoff.

Deputy Justin Stewart came under fire late Thursday night while investigating a car break-in on West Lisbon Parkway. At about 11:32 p.m., Stewart was questioning a possible suspect in the car burglary when the man pulled away from the deputy. As the man spun away from Stewart’s grasp, the deputy spotted a gun in his waistband. The suspect then ran down West New Hampshire Avenue, with the deputy in foot pursuit. With the suspect between 20-30 feet away from Stewart, the suspect turned towards the deputy and opened fire. The bullet missed the deputy, who took cover behind a tree while returning fire. The suspect ran from the scene and eluded capture, but he left behind a key piece of evidence -- his cell phone with pictures of himself.

Acting on a tip as well as the photos from the recovered cell phone, Sheriff’s investigators on Friday identified Cannon as the shooter. Cannon is a convicted felon, having pled no contest in 2007 to cocaine possession and resisting an officer. While investigators obtained arrest warrants for Cannon, deputies placed a relative’s house at 605 W. Miles Street under surveillance. Cannon was spotted going into the house around 1:30 p.m. Friday afternoon. Deputies tried to make contact with Cannon and convince him to come out, but never got a response from inside the house. So they called in the Sheriff’s Office SWAT Team, surrounded the house and continued efforts to contact Cannon. DeLand police officers also assisted at the scene. When efforts to make contact failed, deputies fired tear gas into the house and then made a tactical entry into the residence to look for Cannon. Deputies found the suspect hiding in the attic and were in the process of forcing their way into the attack to grab Cannon when he came down and gave himself up. Cannon is facing charges of attempted 1st-degree murder and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He will be booked into the Volusia County Branch Jail and held without bond.