TOWN 'N' COUNTRY, Fla. — The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office spent five hours on the scene of a barricaded man in Town 'N' Country on Thursday morning.
Deputies say at approximately 5:30 a.m. two female victims were shot and sent to the hospital and are currently in stable condition. One is a 40-year-old who was shot in the shoulder, and the second is a 30-year-old who was shot in the leg. Authorities believe the man was in a romantic relationship with one of the women.
During a later media update, authorities said the man was found dead in the home after several unsuccessful attempts to get him to come out.
They have since identified him as Michael "Frenchy" Barbeau, 47, of 6731 Ranger Drive. ABC Action News has learned, Barbeau had no previous criminal history.
Crisis negotiators attempted to get Barbeau to come out of the home after establishing contact around 7:30 a.m. But, they lost contact around 12:30 p.m.
At that time, his attorney showed up and tried to get him to come out, but he was unsuccessful.
The sheriff's office then sent robots to various windows of the home to try and locate him in an effort to restore contact. Those efforts were also unsuccessful.
Then they used a high-pressured water device to disable the locks on the front door to get into the home, but this attempt was also unsuccessful.
Hillsborough investigators say SWAT members made every attempt to convince Barbeau to come outside peacefully.
“We were trying to use the robots to knock on the windows, give him a chance to let him know we’re here," said Chief Deputy Donna Lusczynski. "We could speak through the robots, again, telling him to come out and surrender so we took it gradually until this point.”
Finally, they used gas in an effort to get him out of the home, but he when he never came out they sent their robots back into the home and found the suspect dead.
BREAKING: man (center) rushes to deputies claiming he has barricaded man on the phone. @abcactionnews pic.twitter.com/E9RTvU0ywb
— Ryan Smith (@RyanReports) March 14, 2019
