Dashcam footage shows the moment two Florida deputies are ambushed by a gunman, prompting a shootout that left the suspect dead and an officer severely injured.
Deputies Brian Potters and Tyler Thoman pulled over a car on West New Haven Avenue in Melbourne, Florida, in a routine traffic stop off of I-95 on August 30.
In the video, a man and a woman are seen standing outside their car. Thoman was talking to the woman about a two-month-old baby and dog in the backseat, according to a video posted on the Brevard County Sheriff's Office Facebook page, as Potters asks a third passenger to exit the car.
Paris Wilder, 38, then jumps out of the car and starts shooting at the officer.
Dashcam footage shows the moment Florida deputies Brian Potters and Tyler Thoman are ambushed by an armed Paris Wilder (right), 38, prompting a shootout that left Wilder dead and Potters severely injured
The officers pulled over a car on West New Haven Avenue in Melbourne, Florida, in a routine traffic stop off of I-95 on Monday, August 30. When Potters asked a passenger to exit the car, Wilder jumped out 'with a small stock AR-15-styled rifle' and started shooting
Potters is seen running away from the gunman as Wilder takes cover behind the car and continues shooting. The officers returned fire. 'I've been hit,' Potters shouts as Wilder starts hopping on one foot, appearing to have been shot too
Paris Wilder (pictured) was a career criminal with 40 previous arrests. He was out on bond for two felony drug charges and two active felony warrants when the shooting happened. He was pronounced dead at the scene
'He (Potters) is immediately and without warning ambushed with a small stock AR-15-styled rifle that is pointed and fired directly at him,' Sheriff Wayne Ivey said in the video.
Ivey suggested Wilder was 'avoiding arrest as he knew he was facing several minimum mandatory prison sentences in his pending cases'.
Potters is then seen running away from the gunman as Wilder takes cover behind the car and continues shooting. The officers returned fire.
'I've been hit,' Potters shouts as Wilder starts hopping on one foot, appearing to have been shot too.
Wilder runs towards the deputies and they try to take cover behind the sheriff's car. The suspect then ambushes Potters from behind, beating him with the gun and knocking him to the ground.
Ivey said Wilder 'fired numerous rounds at our deputies' and 'used the butt
