Shootout video released between Clearwater Police and shooting suspect

This week, police in Clearwater, Florida, released a video of a dramatic shootout between several of their officers and a man who began shooting at them from inside an apartment. On the day after Christmas 2018, officers with the Clearwater Police Department were dispatched to 1444 Gulf to Bay Blvd. to check on the welfare of Annie Vann, 33, who had contacted a family member and reported that her boyfriend was “beating her up”.

The family member also reported that Vann sent a Facebook Messenger message stating, “Help, call 911, 1444 Gulf to Bay Blvd. He has a gun”.

At approximately 2:26 a.m. on December 26, multiple officers contacted Vann at the back door to 1444 Gulf to Bay Blvd. While talking to Vann, Wayne Falana Jr., 35, appeared from behind Vann’s location inside the apartment and opened fire on the officers. Officers scrambled for cover while Falana fired multiple rounds at them.

One officer was struck in his boot and was narrowly missed by a round that penetrated the officer’s clothing but did not cause injury.

As officers took cover, Falana ran to the front of the residence and began shooting through the front glass door, ultimately running into the roadway, still armed with a firearm. Officers returned fire in the roadway in front of 1444 Gulf to Bay Blvd., striking him multiple times.

Falana was hit by 16 of the officers’ bullets and was pronounced dead at the scene.

During the shootout, a puff of smoke can be seen on the video coming from the doorway of the apartment which police initially believed to have been a bomb exploding. It later turned out that some of the gunfire had hit a fire extinguisher inside the apartment resulting in that puff of smoke.

Vann fled the scene after the suspect opened fire on the officers. Later in the day authorities were still looking for her. Police continued to search for her to check on her welfare and to speak to her about the sequence of events leading up to the suspect ambushing officers. Vann turned herself into authorities later that afternoon.

The girlfriend told police that Falana had struck her in the head, knocked her to the ground and repeatedly kicked her. He was living illegally in a recording studio on the property, the chief said.
Falana has a criminal history that included charges of possession of cocaine and marijuana and resisting arrest without violence, according to state records. ~ The Tampa Bay Times

Vanna also told the cops that Falana said to her earlier in the evening that he was ready to die, that he was going to take her with him, plus any police officers that got in his way. “I’m going to go. You’re going to go,” he told her, according to a prosecutor’s report. “I’m ready to die, everybody’s going to die.”

On January 16, Clearwater Police provided a televised update to the shootout which is posted on the department’s Facebook page. You can see a video of the actual shootout below.

(Source: Clearwater Police Department)