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Man fatally shot after police standoff
By LEANORA MINAI © St. Petersburg Times, published April 3, 2001 PINELLAS PARK -- Panicked, the wife of Ronald Sexton arrived at the police station, pleading for help. Her husband was firing a shotgun inside the house, threatening to kill himself. Minutes later, officers arrived at 9030 55th Way N, and Sexton walked outside with a shotgun in his hands. "Put down the shotgun!" a police officer shouted from behind a car, said Sexton's neighbor, Rachelle Stockings. After about a 45-minute standoff, Sexton was shot more than once at 5:05 p.m. when he "confronted at least two of our officers," pointing a shotgun at them, Pinellas Park police Sgt. Sanfield Forseth said. Sexton died a few hours later at Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg. A Vietnam veteran, he would have been 49 on Thursday. "As far as I know, he hadn't fired any shots while he was outside in the yard," Forseth said. Forseth said he did not know how many times Sexton was shot or how many police officers fired at him. Neighbor Jerry Patterson said he heard 12 to 15 gunshots. It was not known late Monday whether Sexton's gun was loaded, though officers said they assumed it was. Investigators with the state attorney's office were at the scene Monday night while Pinellas County Sheriff's Office forensics technicians took photographs and gathered evidence. The officers involved in the shooting, whom police declined to name, have been placed on routine administrative leave pending investigations by the Police Department and the state attorney's office. The incident began at 4:20 p.m., when Sexton's wife arrived at the police station to report that he was threatening to kill himself. When officers arrived, they heard gunshots from the house and called for backup. Several times, Sexton was seen leaving the house and entering a nearby shed. The closest police officer was 20 feet away, behind a car. Stockings, Sexton's neighbor, watched from a window in her house. She saw the officer crouched behind a car, with his gun drawn. "He told him if he came out with the shotgun, they'd have to shoot him," said Stockings, 35. "(Sexton) asked them to put their guns away, and the officers said they couldn't do that." Police said Sexton appeared outside the front door with the shotgun. "No, no, put the shotgun down!" the officer shouted at Sexton, Stockings said. Police said only that more than one officer fired. "We're trained not to wait to be shot at before we shoot," Forseth said. "We gave him numerous warnings." Neighbors said Sexton was battling a drinking problem. "He was a very friendly man," Stockings said. "He'd bring my son home stuffed animals when he went to the fair." Over the years, he has been arrested on charges of driving drunk, marijuana possession, domestic battery and aggravated assault with a firearm. -- Times researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.
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