By Martin E. Comas
Orlando Sentinel
EUSTIS, Fla. — A police officer shot and critically wounded a man outside a busy dollar store Monday after he grabbed the officer’s Taser and fired the weapon at her, authorities said.
Ricky Cyrus Mariani, 62, was reported in critical condition later after undergoing surgery at Orlando Regional Medical Center, where he was airlifted. He was shot in the chest.
Eustis police Officer Theresa Graham was taken to a Lake County hospital, where she was being treated after being tased.
“My understanding is that she’s going to be all right,” police Sgt. Harold Hughes said of Graham, who has been on the force for about two years.
Mariani called police just to say he was planning to deliver a set of keys belonging to his ex-girlfriend, Kathy Rose, who worked at the Dollar Tree in the Eustis Square shopping center off State Road 19. The two had recently split and were no longer living together, police said.
Mariani notified police because on Sept. 15 he was issued a trespass warning, telling him not to return to the store after he showed up to argue with Rose, according to police. When Graham arrived at the scene after 12:30 p.m. Monday, Mariani argued with the police officer and another employee after she came out to collect the keys.
Mariani and Graham then scuffled in the covered walkway in front of the store. Mariani grabbed the officer’s Taser and fired at her, authorities said.
“He went nuts on officer Graham,” Hughes said. After falling to the ground, Graham pulled her Glock .40-caliber handgun and fired.
Wayne Rosencrans III was headed to the shopping center in his motorized scooter when he heard “two pops.”
“It sounded like a car backfiring,” he said. “Then I came closer and I saw a guy laying on the ground and blood was coming out of the guy’s side.”
Copyright 2009 Orlando Sentinel