Authorities: Florida deputy shoots man who grabbed gun

MADEIRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) – A Florida sheriff’s deputy shot a man who tried to grab the deputy’s gun during an early morning traffic stop near St. Petersburg.

Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri says Deputy Tim Virden pulled a woman over for drunken driving around 3 a.m. Wednesday.

Gualtieri told reporters 26-year-old Dylan Tompkins-Holmes told his girlfriend, who was driving the car, not to cooperate with sobriety tests. He says Thompkins-Holmes ignored warnings from deputies to stop interfering. He was arrested, handcuffed and put into a patrol car.

When Tompkins-Holmes complained about being uncomfortable, the deputy tried to help him. Gualtieri says Tompkins-Holmes grabbed the gun. Virden wrestled it away and shot Thompkins-Holmes twice. He is expected to survive.

The deputy wasn’t injured.

Gualtieri says Tompkins-Holmes appeared to be intoxicated. He has not been charged.

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