Authorities in Pasco County are investigating a deputy-involved shooting.

  • Incident started as argument between boyfriend, girlfriend
  • Sheriff Chris Nocco said man charged at deputies with knife
  • Nocco calls incident 'suicide by cop'

The incident occurred Sunday night in the 5200 block of Blue Jay Drive in Holiday.

Deputies say Eric St. Germain, 39, and his girlfriend were fighting when authorities arrived. Neighbor Richard McDonald says it’s not uncommon for the couple to fight, but this time it was out of hand.
 

 

“I saw him spit in her face and rear back to slap her,” said McDonald.

Another neighbor reported hearing St. Germain talk about having a gun.

When deputies showed up, St. Germain’s girlfriend walked out of the home, battered. The 39 year-old refused to come outside. The SWAT team negotiated with St. Germain for hours as neighbors looked on.

 “They gave him every opportunity to come out. The cops said they weren’t going to hurt him, they just wanted to talk to him and get his side of the story and he just refused to come out,” said neighbor Scott Dolin.

When deputies finally went into the house, they say St. Germain charged at them with a knife after repeated requests for him to put it down.

He died on the scene.

The deputy involved in the incident has been put on administrative leave, which is standard in these cases.