DELTONA, Fla. — An off-duty DeLand police officer fatally shot his uncle Friday evening in a Deltona home, the Volusia County Sheriff's Office said.
Bobby Harrelson, 51, shot his uncle Raymond Davis, 68, as the man choked the officer's mother, Hazel Hinds, 76, deputies said.
The argument happened in the living room of a home on Tradewinds Drive shortly after 6:30 p.m., said Gary Davidson, a VCSO spokesman.
Davis was already dead when deputies arrived, investigators said.
Harrelson told investigators he couldn’t break up a heated argument between his uncle and his mother, so he got his weapon and shot Davis.
“I’m not aware of any history between the mother and the uncle," Davidson said. "No prior calls for service at this address. I think there was a medical call, a couple burglar alarms and really that’s it."
Neighbors returned home to find the street filled with patrol cars.
“We didn’t know what happened here. We knew something bad happened, that’s all,” resident Donald Federlin said. “I knew that he was an older gentleman. I thought that he was the owner’s brother, who’s a caretaker for her, more or less. And the son, the DeLand policeman, just moved in here maybe five months ago.”
No one else was home during the shooting.
It’s too soon to determine if the police officer will face charges, Davidson said.
In January 2012, Harrelson shot two men while responding to an armed suspect call, the DeLand Police Department said.
One of the men pointed a realistic pellet riffle at Harrelson, police said.
A Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation found the officer's use of force to be justified.
Both men survived their injuries.