A wanted suspect was shot during a shootout with police on March 14 at the Brooksville Square shopping center around 2:45 p.m.
Sheriff Al Nienhuis said that his deputies followed a wanted suspect who was under surveillance to Dickey’s Barbeque, where he was purchasing food. HCSO had some assistance from a U.S. Marshal in trying to take the suspect into custody.
“It was by chance we caught him under surveillance. I believe we had a search warrant for a house we believed he was staying in and as we got close to get ready to do that search warrant- that’s when we were able to pick him up and start the surveillance- which was not long before the shooting occurred,” said Nienhuis.
The suspect’s name is Zachary Bowles and according to Sheriff Nienhuis has 21 felony convictions in the state of Florida. He’s been to prison at least two separate times and is a documented gang member. He is currently wanted out of Pasco County for attempted armed robbery and felon in possession of a firearm.
Sheriff Nienhuis said that the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office developed probable cause on March 14 for a shooting incident that happened about a week ago in Hernando County. It was an aggravated assault with a firearm charge they had against him. No one was harmed in that incident.
Sheriff Nienhuis explained that as Bowles exited Dickey’s, he tried to get into his truck. A couple of deputies approached him, and he took off running down the sidewalk in front of Dickey’s, Anytime Fitness, and Quest Diagnostics—in a westerly direction. One of the deputies saw him pull a gun from his waistband. “We believe that he pointed it at the deputy and/or shot at the deputy. We’re still trying to narrow that down with some video evidence that we got,” Nienhuis said. Nonetheless, witness statements and preliminary video show that the suspect did pull a weapon, according to the Sheriff.
In fear for his life, the deputy fired at Bowles and hit him at least once. The Sheriff’s Office believes that Bowles fired at least once at the deputy.
Bowles continued running after being shot and the Sheriff said it appeared that he dropped his weapon on the sidewalk. He ran into the woods adjacent to the shopping center. He made it through the woods to the mobile home sales business on the other side, where HCSO had a perimeter set up. As he exited the woods, he confronted law enforcement and was subdued by one of the HCSO K-9s.
Bowles was taken to a local hospital. His wounds were not life-threatening. No deputies or bystanders were harmed in the incident.
Sheriff Nienhuis said the suspect is lucky to be alive. “If you point a gun at a deputy, we are going to shoot at you and we are going to likely injure, if not kill you. If people want to fight us. They need to fight us in court, not on the street.”
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement will be taking over the criminal investigation. The deputy who fired at the suspect is on administrative leave with pay pending the outcome of the FDLE criminal investigation and the HCSO preliminary investigation by the professional standards unit.
A witness told Hernando Sun that he thought he heard around five shots. A bullet went through the door of Anytime Fitness. “Whoever fired it, fired it from the Northeast of the door and the bullet went through the door and hit the wall inside,” the witness said. He was concerned with the risk the operation posed to the innocent people inside the
businesses.
The door to Anytime Fitness was fully repaired overnight.
