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Man wanted for shooting death of a FL deputy finally in custody

AP PhotoJohn Raoux (68)
Nassau County’s Sheriff’s Office

The manhunt is over for the 35-year-old former marine who fatally shot a deputy during a traffic stop.

Patrick McDowell was taken into custody Tuesday evening after becoming trapped in a concession stand bathroom at the Kirsten Higginbotham Sports Complex.

Once deputies surrounded the area and McDowell had nowhere to go, he allegedly called out that he wanted to surrender.

Authorities then send a K9 into the building to retrieve McDowell.

‘He crawled out like a baby. Like the coward that he is,’ Nassau Sheriff Bill Leeper told reporters.

McDowell is said to be responsible for the death of Deputy Josh Moyers of the Nassau County Sheriff’s Office. The former marine reportedly shot Moyers underneath his right eye and on his back after he was pulled over. Moyers later died of his injuries at an area hospital.

After a four day manhunt, authorities received a tip that McDowell may have been spotted in a Callahan baseball field late Tuesday.

McDowell was taken to an area hospital where he is being treated for a dog bite and bullet wounds.

McDowell’s father spoke to reporters about his son stating that after returning from Iraq, he suffered from PTSD, depression and seizure and then turned to drugs:

‘I had resigned myself to the fact that he might overdose or take his own life. I never dreamed he would take someone else’s life….I’m not going to be a hypocrite and plead for his life; he was well aware of the consequences,’ Richard McDowell said about his son.