“It is just unfathomable to me that Will is not here,” Adkinson said during a press conference.
May, a 38-year-old father and husband who had served with the Sheriff’s Office since about 2014, was shot and killed by a 58-year-old local man who had been causing a disturbance on Wednesday afternoon at the Dollar General in the unincorporated community of Mossy Head. The store is located on U.S. Highway 90, near Lancelot Road.
At about 2 p.m. Wednesday, S.O. dispatchers received a call from the Dollar General about an individual who was causing a disturbance at the business and needed to be trespassed from the scene, Adkinson said.
He said May was working a volunteer shift and that the call was the last one of his shift.
“He said, ‘I will catch this on my way home,’” Adkinson said.
May responded to the store and made contact with the suspect.
“There was a brief discussion, approximately 10-15 seconds, in which the suspect exited the store, with Deputy May walking out behind him,” Adkinson said. “Within 10 seconds of the suspect walking out of the store, with Deputy May behind him, that suspect drew a firearm and fired multiple rounds, striking Deputy Will May. Deputy May, to his great personal credit and courage, was able to draw his firearm and return fire. This short but violent gunfight resulted in at least 18 rounds being fired, with both individuals being hit. The suspect died on scene.”
The sheriff said May called for assistance, and that another deputy from the WCSO responded on scene within approximately two minutes and began to attempt to render aid to May. Within another 30 seconds to a minute, two deputies – one of whom was an EMT – and a Florida Highway Patrol trooper arrived and also began attempting to render aid to May, Adkinson said.
“Walton County Fire Rescue immediately responded to the scene as well,” he said. “That is an advanced life-support unit. They also began working on Deputy May. We attempted to airlift Deputy May from the scene, but area conditions would not allow that to work. Walton County Fire Rescue transported Deputy May to North Okaloosa Medical Center (in Crestview), where for the next four hours, surgeons and doctors worked to save Will May’s life.”
Adkinson said, “Will fought the entire time, from returning fire on-scene, to fighting for his own life. At 7:10 this evening, Deputy Will May succumbed to gunshot wounds.”
May had been with the Sheriff’s Office since about 2014, when he was a communication officer. He became a deputy sheriff in 2019 and became a field-training officer in 2023. May’s father was an assistant fire chief and his mother was an S.O. dispatcher.
“He chose a lifetime of service,” said Adkinson, who has worked in law enforcement for 32 years and said there is nothing he would have done differently if he had dealt with the suspect at the Dollar General.
“There was no indication whatsoever that this would have ended in that sort of violence,” Adkinson said. “But that’s what the men and women of this organization, the men and women who choose to put themselves in harm’s way, understand and accept when we go to work. It is just unfathomable to me that Will is not here. It’s unfathomable to me that this happened.”
He added that there is absolutely nothing May could have done differently, nor was there any indication of the suspect’s capability of violence.
Adkinson said May was wearing a ballistics vest during the incident, and that the vest stopped multiple rounds from the suspect.
“One of the rounds went underneath the vest, which ultimately caused his death,” the sheriff said.
Adkinson said he would not say the suspect’s name because the suspect did not deserve to have it spoken.
“This agency is in shock and disbelief,” Adkinson said. “The suspect was not even going to be arrested.”
He said the suspect had a concealed weapons permit, and that other weapons were found in his residence when S.O. officials searched it. Adkinson said that according to the latest information he had, the suspect had no prior criminal record.
He said officials were trying to determine if the man was from the local area.
“He had been here for at least the last several years,” the sheriff said. “We know he arrived on scene by bicycle. We know where he was staying. We had had some dealings with him over the last couple of years, but for minor things.”
Adkinson said May had been wearing a body camera, but it wasn’t known yet whether the footage could be retrieved because one of the rounds fired by the suspect struck the camera.
It was unclear whether the Dollar General had exterior cameras.
In any event, “Nothing captured the incident,” Adkinson said.
He said he is now focusing on providing as much information as he can about the incident to May’s wife, children and parents.
In an initial report on the shooting provided by the S.O. today, the suspect is listed as Timothy Mark Jarvinen, of 28 Shakespeare Court, DeFuniak Springs. Shakespeare Court is just northeast of the Dollar General.