Suspect hospitalized after shooting at Pasco County deputies who returned fire

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating a deputy-involved shooting that took place Saturday morning in Pasco County.

It happened around 6:45 a.m. at the RaceTrac gas station located at the intersection of US 19 and Little Road in Hudson.

According to the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office, one of their deputies was pumping gas at the Racetrac around 6:09 a.m. when James Zambrotto, 79, pulled in and started talking to him.

The deputy said the Zambrotto began rambling and said he wanted to kill somebody and wanted to drive his vehicle into the gas pumps.

The deputy said he spoke to Zambrotto for about 15 minutes to try to de-escalate the situation. He said he even offered Zambrotto a cup of coffee and suggested they talk about why he felt like killing someone.

According to PCSO, the deputy called for backup because the situation wasn’t de-escalating. Several deputies, including a hostage negotiator, showed up. The deputies spoke to Zambrotto for more than 40 minutes to try to figure out what was going on with the man. Zambrotto also said he wanted to shoot people.

The deputies pre-positioned a vehicle in front of the Zambrotto's car and put stop-sticks in back to block him in. Around 6:46 a.m. the man rammed into the deputy’s vehicle and began shooting at the deputies a minute later, according to PCSO. Two deputies returned fire and hit Zambrotto.

Zambrotto was taken to an area hospital and was in the Intensive Care Unit as of Saturday morning.

According to the Pasco County Sheriff's Office, Zambrotto does not have a criminal history with the agency, nor does he have any documented mental illnesses. 

None of the deputies were injured.

"These are the tragedies we deal with every day," said Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco. "I’m very proud of our deputies who tried to de-escalate the situation. They tried to do everything they could to help the man out. Their professionalism, their training kicked in. The fact that these deputies are out there every day trying to save lives, but unfortunately, when they are put into a situation when someone shoots at them they have to take action because if they had not taken action the person would have fled and an innocent person whose life could’ve been taken because this individual stated he had a clear intent to harm people."

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