Man killed in deputy-involved shooting in Fort Myers

The incident happened behind Love Boat Ice Cream

By Julie Salomone

CREATED Dec. 15, 2012 - UPDATED: Dec. 15, 2012

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  • The incident happened around 3:30 Saturday morning behind Love Boat Ice Cream. Video by fox4now.com

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FORT MYERS, Fla.- A 48-year-old Fort Myers man was killed in a deputy-involved shooting early Saturday morning in South Fort Myers.

The Lee County Sheriff's Office identified the dead man as Thomas Kollman.

LCSO reports it happened just after 3:30 a.m. when a deputy pulled over a suspicious vehicle. The sheriff's office says the driver of a Jeep Wrangler pulled into Love Boat Ice Cream on San Carlos Blvd. The driver was armed and shots were exchanged. 

Joanne Morris and her husband, Jim, tell Fox most mornings they get up here and there, but on Saturday around 3:30 in the morning they happened to be in bed. It's a fortunate move, they say, because they dodged a bullet. 

"It sounded like somebody pounding on the side of our house rapidly bam, bam, bam bam," said Joanne Morris. 

The two got up and flipped on the lights.

"We saw all the damage, glass every place. It came in the bedroom 2 feet above where my husband's head was." 

The couple says they feel thankful the bullet didn't harm them or the family dog. They showed Fox pictures of the shattered bathroom mirror and an unusable microwave. 

"It went through the bedroom mirror, out that wall, through the bathroom mirror, out that wall and through the microwave and exited on the other side of the house."
 
The sheriff's office is not commenting on how many shots were fired or who fired first. It is still early in the investigation. Following protocol, the deputy involved has been placed on administrative leave.