Looter Shot, Killed in Panama City After Hurricane Michael: Officials

Top video shows devastation in Mexico Beach, Florida

An alleged looter was shot dead by police in hurricane-hit Panama City, Florida, according to reports.

WEAR-TV reported that the man was shot and killed near the Tidewater Estates and Dune Creek after Hurricane Michael slammed the Florida Panhandle, reducing entire towns and communities to rubble.

A witness told WEAR-TV that the man was allegedly trying to steal a law enforcement vehicle.

“He yelled at me a little bit and said, ‘Oh, I’m looting.’ And he opened the door to the police officer’s SUV with the lights going. Got in it, shut the door,” Landon Swett, the witness, told the station.

The officer was in the passenger side of the vehicle, Swett said, adding that he heard a shot. He ran inside a home with his family when the incident unfolded.

Damaged and destroyed buildings in an aerial photograph, taken during a post-Hurricane Michael flight by a Coast Guard MH-65 helicopter over Mexico Beach, Fla., on Oct. 11, 2018. U.S. Coast Guard/Petty Officer 1st Class Colin Hunt/Handout/Reuters

A representative with the Florida Highway Patrol said Florida State Fire Marshals were involved in the shooting. WEAR-TV reported that state officials are now investigating the matter.

“I know PCPD, local law enforcement and outside agencies are trying to come in and minimize the impact of that,” David Collier, a battalion chief for the Panama City Fire Department, was quoted by the MyPanhandle website as saying.

He added: “I know the county has in place a curfew. Everybody needs to be off the roads as much as possible from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m.”

He said there have been isolated cases of looting across Hurricane Michael-hit areas in Florida.

Some locals, however, have said that as supplies get scarce, people will do what it takes to survive. “This hit so hard and so fast that the different aspect of human nature is going to come out and people are going to do anything to survive,” Christopher Donahue told WEAR-TV.

Dollar Store Looting Video

A clip posted by YouTube account Live Storms Media in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael shows people grabbing items from a Family Dollar store.

“About 40 people are seen looting, ransacking, and cleaning out a destroyed Family Dollar in Panama City after Hurricane Michael,” the channel wrote.

The Family Dollar store missing the majority of its roof and several of its walls. The front of the building was nearly gone.

The footage shows people driving directly to the store and loading items into their vehicles. At the end of the video, a man can be heard, “I gotta go get me some laundry detergent.”

CNN reported that for Bay County, where Panama City is located, a curfew was put in place after the hurricane. Gulf, Franklin, and Washington counties are also under a mandatory curfew.

Police told WEAR-TV that people who violate the curfew could face a ticket and fine.

Hurricane Michael hit the Florida Panhandle last week, making landfall near Mexico Beach with 155 mph winds. The storm did extensive damage to the area, including to Tyndall Air Force Base.

Video footage taken from Mexico Beach shows neighborhoods of flattened buildings and trees.