POLK COUNTY, Fla. — A homicide led to a suspect being shot and killed overnight Monday during a standoff with the Polk County SWAT team, according to the Polk County Sheriff's Office.
- Husband killed, wife injured in shooting
- Suspect, Rudy Arenas, shot, killed during standoff
The incident started around 7:20 p.m. Sunday at a home on Finch Lane in Poinciana where a husband and wife were shot.
The sheriff's office said they received multiple 911 calls about gunshots and screaming in the area of Finch Lane. When deputies arrived on scene they located Orlando Riviera-Vasquez, 40, dead and his wife Brenda injured inside a grey Nissan Altima parked in the roadway. According to the release, Brenda told deputies that a man named "Shorty" shot her and her husband.
Deputies were able to identify the suspect as Rudy Arenas, 40, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said during a press conference Monday morning.
Sheriff Judd said Arenas shot Orlando four times and Brenda seven times. Brenda is currently in stable condition at a local hospital.
FOLLOWING THE SHOOTING
Sheriff Judd said Rudy fled the scene in his daughter's vehicle and called his daughter to meet up.
Judd said his daughter then called the Osceola County Sheriff's Office, due to the area being on the border of Osceola County. The Osceola Sheriff's Office then notified the Polk County Sheriff's Office.
Polk County deputies were then led to a home on Wood Lane in Poinciana around 10:30 p.m. and attempted to take Arenas into custody. Authorities said Arenas ran into the home still armed with a gun that detectives determined he had stolen from an acquaintance earlier in the day.
Arenas then barricaded himself inside the home and refused to surrender. During that time, Sheriff Judd said Arenas was talking about being on drugs and threatening to shoot deputies or himself.
Rudy Arenas in a previous Polk County mug shot. (Polk County Sheriff's Office)
After hours of negotiations and several attempts to remove Arenas from the home safely, the SWAT team was forced to shoot Arenas when he pulled out a gun.
According to authorities, Arenas criminal history includes 17 previous arrests in Rhode Island and Massachusetts and two previous arrests in Florida — Tampa and Polk County.