DELTONA, Fla. — The man accused of shooting a Volusia County Deputy told investigators if he “didn’t run out of ammunition he would have killed them all.”
Luis Diaz Polanco is facing 2 counts of attempted murder of a law enforcement officer.
Investigators said he opened fire on deputies in Deltona Monday.
Sheriff Mike Chitwood compared Polanco’s interview to the interview of the suspect who shot and killed an off-duty Edgewater officer David Jewell in September. In that case and in this one, the suspects told investigators they were having a horrible day and planned to shoot.
“He had every intention to shoot them, shoot them in their vests, and if I didn’t run out of ammunition, I would have killed them all,” said Sheriff Chitwood during a news conference.
Eyewitness News was in court when Polanco heard his charges on Tuesday. He told his public defender he needed to talk to his mom. Polanco is accused of opening fire on Volusia County deputies multiple times while they were at his home investigating a battery call in which Polanco was the suspect.
Polanco told investigators he bought the gun he used from his friend in Sanford. Sheriff Chitwood said that friend purchased the gun legally but could face charges for selling it to Polanco.
“Illegal transfer or sale of gun. It’s not reported stolen so we will look to tag him and hope the feds will pick him up,” said Chitwood.
We looked into Polanco’s past. A 2024 report from Seminole County said Polanco was working as a Lyft driver when he picked up a couple and ended up pulling the woman from his back seat and slamming her to the ground.
The State Attorney’s Office said the victims didn’t want to press charges. Volusia County investigators said Polanco has a pattern of documented mental health-related incidents while armed.
One situation, also in Seminole County, involved his own family, who didn’t want to press charges, but they did have him committed to a mental hospital.
The sheriff said Polanco used artificial intelligence to ask if he could kill someone if they visited his property.
On February 14, AI provided him with a definition of Florida’s stand-your-ground law but advised against it.
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