Sheriff: Deputy fatally shoots armed bipolar man in Deltona

DELTONA, Fla. — A deputy fatally shot an armed bipolar man Thursday evening at the man’s Deltona home, Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood said.

Deputy Shawn Adkins, 25, shot Daniel Donarski, 58, after Adkins said Donarski pointed a shotgun at him at the Donarki's Teather Avenue home, Chitwood said.

Investigators said Donarski’s wife called 911 shortly before 7 p.m. to report that her husband was off his usual medications and was having a breakdown.

Watch Sheriff Mike Chitwood's news conference below:

“It’s not good,” the woman told a dispatcher. “He's cussing up a storm and he punched some holes in the wall.”

The woman said she didn’t believe that her husband was armed at the time but that there were guns in the home, deputies said.

"He has been weaned off his medication in the past several days," Chitwood said. "He had been drinking heavily. He was violent, punching holes in the wall, threatening to burn the house down."

Investigators said Donarski pointed the gun at deputies within seven minutes of them arriving at the home, and Adkins shot Donarski.

"The other deputy grabs the wife and is running away, getting her out of the line of fire," Chitwood said. "Unfortunately, the man is dead, but the deputies had to do what they had to do."

Chitwood said he doesn’t think Donarski fired his gun at the deputy. He said the man had no criminal history.

"He's just really good people. It's a tragedy all the way around that this has happened to them," said neighbor Dan Baker.

Neighbors told Channel 9's Mike Springer that none of the behavior sounds like the man they've known for close to a decade.

Another neighbor described Donarski as an extremely religious man who cared deeply for his family and could be seen out Saturday mornings working on his lawn.

"It really is completely out of character," Baker said. "It was just not him at all."

Adkins has worked for the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office since October 2015. He was placed on paid administrative leave while the Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigates the shooting, which is typical.

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