Crossbow-Toting Man Shot, Killed, By Deputies

PALM HARBOR, FL — A 55-year-old Palm Harbor man is dead after Pinellas County deputies say he pointed a loaded crossbow at two of their own Thursday night.

According to the agency, deputies were called out to a home in the 200 block of Whisper Lake Road around 6:50 p.m. Dec. 22. The caller told deputies that Stanley Eversole and his girlfriend Lora Richter, 53, had been in a fight earlier in the week. During that fight, the caller said Eversole threatened his girlfriend with a crossbow and told her if she called police he would kill any that showed up, an email from the agency said.

“Richter never reported the incident to law enforcement,” the sheriff’s office said.

On Thursday night, however, one of Richter’s friends, Mary Jo Barranco, 63, became concerned about her safety. She sent her daughter, Lisa Sampietro, 40, to check on her.

When Sampietro drove by Richter’s home, she saw Eversole standing outside “in the front yard holding what she believed was a rifle or shotgun,” the email said. That sight prompted her to call deputies.

Richter returned home as deputies arrived on the scene, the sheriff’s office said. One deputy spoke with Richter outside the home as the other went into the backyard and looked through a window.

“Deputies observed Eversole inside the residence with a crossbow in his hand,” the email said “The crossbow was cocked with an arrow in it.”

Eversole came out of the home at that point, the sheriff’s office said.

“Corporal Casey Hunter and Deputy Brain Sudbrink were across the street, east of the residence covering the two deputies nearest the home, when Eversole leveled the crossbow and pointed the weapon at the two deputies in a threatening manner,” the email said.

Fearing that the deputies’ lives were in danger, Hunter and Sudbrink both fired. Eversole was shot three to four times, the sheriff’s office said.

Eversole was taken to Bayfront Medical Center, but died from his injuries. The deputies were not injured in the confrontation.

Hunter, 35, and Sudbrink, 47, have both been placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation.

Photo of the crossbow courtesy of the Pinellas County Sherriff’s Office