PANAMA CITY — The Springfield man who was shot during an armed standoff with authorities has died after several days of treatment in a local hospital, Bay County Sheriff’s Office confirmed Monday.
Aaron Lepak, 40, died Sunday morning from the critical gunshot wounds he sustained at the end of a nearly two-hour-long, armed standoff with law enforcement agencies Aug. 5. He was wanted in connection with a domestic violence incident that left his wife paralyzed, in critical condition, and sent him into hiding for nearly a week before the confrontation. Lepak was cornered with a .22 caliber Derringer in a Panama City motel for more than an hour before negotiations deteriorated, he waived his gun in the sheriff’s direction and was shot by Bay County Sheriff Frank McKeithen, according to BCSO.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is conducting an investigation into BCSO’s response to the standoff, a standard procedure when officers use deadly force. The investigation could take several weeks. However, BCSO officials have released preliminary statements that Lepak turned his pistol on himself in an apparent suicide attempt after McKeithen shot him in the torso.
BCSO officials Monday declined to comment on Lepak’s death.
Attempts to contact Lepak’s family were unsuccessful Monday. Lepak’s mother, Catherine, was present at the hospital when her son was pronounced dead, she said in a Facebook message.
“Thanks to the wonderful staff I was able to hold him as he left this earth to be at peace with his beautiful sister,” she wrote. They “deserve medals for their compassion and helpfulness through this impossible time in my life. I can never express my gratitude to my family, co-workers and friends.”
EMS personnel rushed Lepak to the hospital with critical gunshot wounds after BCSO officers heard three shots come from room 31 of the Budget Inn at 3910 U.S. 98.
The shooting ended a four-day manhunt for Lepak, who reportedly had stolen the Derringer from a safe belonging to the mother of his wife, Rhonda Lepak. As officers closed in on Aaron Lepak, they learned he had been telling the people quartering him that his wife’s injuries had come from a fall.
According to Springfield Police reports, during a verbal dispute at their East Ninth Street home on July 27, Aaron Lepak reportedly grabbed Rhonda Lepak and picked her up before placing her in a headlock. When she came to, she couldn’t feel her legs, Rhonda Lepak told police.
A day later, she said she convinced Aaron Lepak to call for help and EMS transported her to the local hospital, where she learned she had been paralyzed, police reports stated.
Lepak then fled, staying one night in a front-yard shed on Dartmouth Place in Youngstown, authorities reported. He borrowed a yellow Dodge Neon and relocated for a couple nights to a friend’s apartment in the Edgewood Garden Apartments on 23rd Street under the guise his wife’s injuries were caused by a fall.
A warrant for his arrest was issued Friday, and BCSO tracked Lepak and the yellow Dodge Neon parked in front of the Budget Inn room last week. When officers knocked on the door, Lepak became hostile and barricaded himself in the room, BCSO reported.
BCSO said McKeithen alone gained access to Lepak, keeping the SWAT unit outside abreast via his cellphone placed on a nightstand in the room. McKeithen did not draw his gun until discussions deteriorated 90 minutes into negotiations, BCSO said.
Lepak became careless with his firearm, waving it in the direction of the sheriff — who is a trained hostage or crisis negotiator. BCSO said McKeithen feared for his safety and fired upon Lepak.
Lepak was struck in the torso and then turned the Derringer on himself, BCSO said.
He was taken to a local ICU, where he was treated until Sunday morning, when he died of his injuries.
The development does not affect FDLE’s investigation into the incident, agency representatives said Monday.
McKeithen returned to service Thursday after a use of force committee, composed of command staff, reviewed his actions.