By Madeleine Marr
Miami Herald
NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. — A Central Florida deputy shot a troubled man after, as seen in bodycam footage, he came at him with two knives Sunday in New Smyrna Beach.
Michael Collmar, who suffers from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, was having a “mental health episode” at his parents’ home before the violence occurred, according to the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office.
The 43-year-old suspect was wounded, but after surgery is in stable condition,” and expected to survive his injuries, according to the agency.
According to a news release, deputies responded to reports of a man “acting erratically” at the house at around 1 p.m. Officers attempted to peacefully negotiate with Collmar, with no success.
In newly shared bodycam footage, you can see the chaos leading up to the shooting. Deputies are stationed outside the back door, trying to persuade the barricaded subject to come out.
“Put the knife down! Put the knife down!” yells a deputy.
“There’s nothing to talk about, man!” screams Collmar.
Officers eventually deploy Tasers and a “less lethal shotgun,” but they also proved unsuccessful.
About an hour into the standoff, the suspect advances out of the front door and “charges” the deputy, who fires his gun. You see Collmar fall to the ground on his stomach, and his hands are cuffed behind his back.
Deputies treated him for his injuries before transporting him to the hospital.
“When he came through that door, at that speed he came through the door, all bets are off,” said Volusia Sheriff Mike Chitwood during a press conference on Monday. “He’s armed with two knives and there’s nowhere to go.”
Collmar’s parents were not injured, nor were any of the deputies involved.
This was the second call to the house in three weeks involving Collmar, who has an extensive criminal record and has falsely claimed to work for the CIA, DEA and FBI.
The last police call was Jan. 17, when Collmar’s mother reported her son was “armed, screaming, paranoid and possibly hallucinating.” The VCSO says the man was not “receptive to deputies’ attempts to communicate with him and connect him with counseling services.”
The VCSO notes that the defendant was last released from jail in October of last year, serving four years for stabbing a Port Orange man multiple times in July 2017.
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