DeLand, FL - An eight-hour standoff ends with a suicidal 41-year-old male in custody.
And he's now facing charges after firing at a sheriff's helicopter.
According to the Volusia County Sheriff's Office, Neil Ryan Kirkland told telecommunicators and deputies that he planned to commit suicide or suicide by cop early this morning (May 29th).
The call went out just before 2 a.m. when Kirkland told 911 operators that he planned on walking away from Nectarine Road and shooting himself away from his family.
The operator attempted to keep talking to Kirkland, calling him back after he hung up.
Kirkland indicated that his mind was made up due to relationship issues with his fiancee and his belief that he would lose his children.
The crew of VCSO's Air One was already overhead on a different call when they saw Kirkland standing in the driveway of a home.
While VCSO hovered above, Kirkland pointed a handgun at Air One and fired one shot at the crew.
Air One backed off and Kirkland got into a white Chevy pickup truck and drove away.
Deputies on the ground successfully deployed stop sticks on his truck, which came to a stop in a gas station parking lot off of East International Speedway Boulevard (US-92).
Over the next several hours, telecommunicators and deputies worked to maintain a dialogue with Kirkland, while establishing a perimeter which shut down traffic in both directions on US-92.
#BREAKINGNEWS: All eastbound lanes of US-92 in DeLand near Kepler are shut down by @VolusiaSheriff as deputies work the scene of a possible suicidal suspect. Deputies are directing traffic, live traffic updates on FM 93.5\AM 1150 WNDB pic.twitter.com/VRe7ab2tyE
— News Daytona Beach (@NewsDaytonaBch) May 29, 2019
He continuously entered and exited his vehicle with a handgun pointed to his head, chin or in his mouth during the standoff.
Just before 10 a.m., Kirkland was taken into custody, before being transported to Volusia County Jail, where he's held without bond.
He's currently charged with aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, discharging a firearm in public, possession of a weapon by an in-state felon and attempted first degree murder.
In a briefing near the scene, Chief Deputy John Creamer credited the patient approach of all law enforcement and civilians involved in the incident.
"This is what we train to do, this is one of the tenets of Sheriff Chitwood's administration: The sanctity of human life," Chief Creamer said.
Kirkland has served time in prison before. Records show that he was charged for instigating a deadly fight in New Smyrna Beach back in 1998.
