Body found atop Florida Keys condo after shots fired, bottled thrown, sheriff says
Gunshots rang out and bottles were thrown from a Florida Keys condominium rooftop before deputies found a man dead atop the building Thursday night, Monroe County's sheriff said.
The tense situation began shortly before 10 p.m. when 911 calls came in about a man throwing bottles at passing traffic from the roof of a condo at Number 9, Sombrero Road in the Middle Keys city of Marathon, Monroe Sheriff Rick Ramsay told the Miami Herald.
When deputies arrived, they heard gunshots coming from the roof, Ramsay said. Deputies immediately shut down traffic on Sombrero Road, a street that runs east from U.S. 1 toward a popular Keys beach, and set up a perimeter, Ramsay said.
Tactical team deputies also set up positions across the canal from the condo, the sheriff said.
The only access to the roof was through a hatch, and deputies determined it was too unsafe for their people to breach.
The Sheriff's Office requested a helicopter from a Florida Air National Guard that is stationed at nearby Marathon International Airport to check out the rooftop, but the request was denied, Ramsay said.
The Miami-Dade County Sheriff's Office then sent down two choppers upon Monroe's request, Ramsay said., one of which was manned with a sniper. The Dade crews flew over the two-story building and saw a man on his back with blood coming from his head, Ramsay said.
Monroe deputies then breached the rooftop and found the man's body — with an AR-15 rifle at his side — dead from a self-inflicted gunshot, Ramsay said.
Ramsay said his detectives are investigating the circumstances and motive of the situation.
'All the details have to be sorted out,' he said.
This story will be updated with more information as details become available.
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