'Faith is a big part': Deputy talks about life after fatal shooting, nine years later

BREVARD CO., Fla. — It was a pitch black night on Sept. 13, 2010, when five Brevard County deputies were dispatched to a home on Riverview Drive in Micco.

According to dispatch records, an unidentified man called 911 threatening to shoot family members and also said he would then kill himself. More deputies with the SWAT team responded to the area.

"He was having some mental health issues and he was at the residence. He had a gun," Lt. Rob Vitaliano told investigative reporter Daralene Jones.

As deputies arrived at the scene, a helicopter hovered above. Dispatch records show the suspect, Eric Bricker, 43, was on the phone, "asking for two deputies to respond because he was going to shoot them." He later said he had a 0.357 revolver and he was going to "blow someone's head off."

"He had snuck into the shadows. And he came out of the shadows."

"We had individuals inside of the residence that we thought were at great risk. We didn't know (the) mental capacity or thought process of the individual,' Vitaliano said.

Vitaliano explained how they set up a perimeter around the home, all while getting information from the law enforcement officers in the helicopter above the scene.

"He had snuck into the shadows, and he came around to the side of the residence, and he came out of the shadows to the back of the residence with the gun pointed straight at us," he told Jones.

Vitaliano is one of three Central Florida law enforcement officers who agreed to speak on-camera about the use of deadly force. They told Jones about the impact the shootings they were involved in had on their personal and professional lives.

Read the stories of the other two officers:

'No good deed goes unpunished': Trooper recalls decision to shoot, kill 15 year-old boy

"You think you understand the risks until you come on the job and see what the risks are," Vitaliano shared, "You could train your whole life and it's a matter of seconds." %

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Vitaliano is a 23-year veteran of law enforcement. He now works in a supervisory role with the Brevard County Sheriff's Office. He says he found a way to get through the day to day.

"Faith is a big part, huge. I can tell you right now I wouldn't be here without that," he said.

Shortly after the shooting, WFTV spoke with Eric Bricker's brother-in-law, Mark Chatham. He described Bricker as mentally ill, unemployed and said he had been drinking in the hours leading up to the confrontation with the deputies.

"He just got depressed, and with him being bi-polar, it just culminated into him doing something stupid," Chatham said.

Bricker's cousin was in the house at the time of the shooting. Not wanting to be identified, she spoke with WFTV off-camera.

"I wish there was something else they could have done," she said in 2010.

Vitaliano acknowledged the loved ones left behind when someone is killed by law enforcement.

"They are the true victims of this. They have to live with their loved ones that are now dead, knowing that a law enforcement officer is the one. So you try to comfort them as best you can," he said.

Vitaliano was cleared of any wrongdoing, and the department determined the shooting of Eric Bricker was justified. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigated this shooting, but now the Brevard County Sheriff's Office does not ask FDLE to investigate when its officers are involved in deadly shootings. It is the only department in Central Florida to do so. There is no state or federal policy that requires them to do otherwise. When we asked Sheriff Wayne Ivey about the decision, he told us he believes the agency is capable of policing its own.

To contact Daralene Jones about this report, click here.

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