VIDEO: Officers Run Towards Gunfire to Rescue Family

Volusia County Deputies ran towards gunfire to save a family.

Officers Run Towards Gunfire to Rescue Family

A 911 call to Volusia County dispatchers ended abruptly with a woman screaming on the other end of the line, followed by silence and the tone of a disconnected phone.

Deputy Eric Cheek was responding to that same call when he could hear an unknown woman’s scream, followed by a gunshots.  Deputy Cheek then rushed toward the residence on Alameda Drive, where he heard the suspect – later identified as Emmanuel Rosado – yell, “You are going to die today,” after which more shots rang out.

Another responding deputy, Justin Ferrari, has helped make this incident famous due to the footage shot from his department-issued body camera; the footage has recently been released and has gone viral, both on the internet and in the media.

The footage shows Deputy Ferrari exiting his vehicle immediately after hearing several shots fired from the residence and rushing to the aid of his partner, who was already taking cover behind a large tree.

As the camera rolls we see Deputy Ferrari locate an injured female near the front of the garage; the woman is bleeding from a gunshot wound to the back of her leg.  Deputy Ferrari grabs the female and drags her away from danger, moving her to a neighbor’s house.

You can hear the deputy’s heavy breathing as he works hard to get both himself – loaded down by 20-plus pounds of police gear – and the immobile female out of the line of fire.  Later in the video – around the 4:30 mark, Deputy Ferrari locates three small children running out of the suspect’s house; the deputy picks up and carries two of the children to safety.

Investigators say that Rosado shot his wife at their home with their three children inside, and then fired upon the responding deputies.

Volusia deputies said that Rosado had been arguing with his wife, Victoria Rosado, 26, over custody of their 1-year-old and shot her in the buttocks about 12:37 p.m. Sunday.

Emmanuel Rosado is charged with three counts of attempted first-degree murder and was being held Monday without bail.

Though the footage of this incident shows us good tactics used by the officers during an armed stand-off, it more importantly demonstrates something that can’t be trained into somebody during their time at the academy – the willing spirit of an officer to run into gunfire.

During the memorial service for five slain Dallas police officers, former President George W. Bush said that, “Most of us imagine if the moment called for, that we would risk our lives to protect a spouse or a child. Those wearing the uniform assume that risk for the safety of strangers.”

Few better examples of that have been captured so well on video, with where we can see the deputies run towards gunfire to rescue a woman and her children whom they had never met before.

Good job, deputies. Your actions exemplify everything we should strive to be.