2:00 P.M. WEDNESDAY UPDATE
During a press conference, Taylor County Sheriff Wayne Padgett identified the deputy who was shot as Troy Andersen, who returned to TCSO as a deputy six months ago. Padgett added that Deputy Andersen was alone when he was shot Tuesday night and will undergo reconstructive surgery soon. The sheriff said that the suspect was pulled over for a routine traffic stop.
Dixie County Sheriff Darby Butler told reporters that around 7:20 a.m. Wednesday, deputies were called to a residence near the north end of Dixie County after a person called about the shooting of an intruder. The homeowner exchanged gunfire with the suspect after the intruder tried to enter their home. Located outside the home was the deceased suspect and also multiple guns.
The homeowner will be released later Wednesday from the hospital after minor injuries from the gunfight, Sheriff Butler said.
FDLE Special Agent in Charge Mark Perez said that the preliminary investigation from FDLE shows that the roadside shooting and the attempted home instruction were committed by the same person.
9:34 A.M WEDNESDAY UPDATE
FDLE canceled the Blue alert at 9:34 a.m. Wednesday morning and confirmed that the suspect is "no longer at large." No further updates were given. Authorities are due to give an update at 2 p.m. via the FDLE Facebook page; we will provide a version of that announcement in this story and update with new details.
UPDATE: The Florida Blue Alert issued for Gregory Ryan Miedema activated on February 22, 2022, has been cancelled. Thank you for sharing!
— FDLE (@fdlepio) February 23, 2022
ORIGINAL STORY
A Blue Alert is in effect for a man suspected of shooting a Taylor County deputy.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement and Florida Highway Patrol are actively searching for 33-year-old Gregory Ryan Miedema.
He was reported last seen in Perry, Florida. An FHP spokesperson says the deputy was shot multiple times and taken to the hospital via helicopter with life-threatening injuries. As of 11:45 a.m. our sister station in Tallahassee says that at last check the deputy is in stable condition at Shands Hospital in Gainesville, Fla.
The Sarasota County Sheriff's Office has Miedema on its sex offender registry. Per a prior press release, "Miedema was convicted in 2011 while serving the in the U.S. Army on one count of Lewd or Lascivious Battery, Intercourse with a Victim 12 to 15 Years Old and one count of Possession of Child Pornography. He was sentenced to 78 months in federal prison followed by two months of probation."
FDLE information also has two addresses registered to Miedema in Southwest Florida within the last year: Lehigh Acres (June 2021) and Fort Myers (October 2021).
Several neighbors near the Fort Myers home said they have children on the premises and were not made aware of Miedema's presence or sex offender status.
State law enforcement declares a Blue Alert when the following criteria apply:
- A law enforcement officer must have been seriously injured, killed by a subject or subjects, or missing in the line of duty “under circumstances causing concern for the law enforcement officer’s safety”
- The investigating agency has determined that the subject “poses a serious risk to the public or to other law enforcement officers and the alert may help avert further harm or assist in the apprehension of the suspect”
- There is pertinent and potentially helpful information, such as the description of a subject’s vehicle or license plate number, to broadcast to the public
- The agency of jurisdiction recommends issuing the alert
