Manatee sheriff calls man who fired shots, injured deputy

Lina PortmanMay 25, 2024

0 2 minutes read

A man was arrested after crashing his car into a Bradenton nursing home and shooting two Manatee County Sheriff's Office deputies and a nursing home employee early Friday morning.

The Bradenton Police Department received a 911 call from an employee of Aspire Living in Palma Sola Bay at 6305 Cortez Road at 3:25 a.m. An employee saw Sean Calcutti, 40, crash in front of the building and load a handgun. When the employee approached Calcutti, he shot him, but missed. The employee went back inside the nursing home and locked the doors. Calcutti then shot at various windows, trying to enter the nursing home.

Two police officers went to the nursing home after receiving a request for assistance from the Bradenton Police Department. When they arrived on scene, officers located Calcutti and told him to show his hands and get down. He refused to comply and began firing shots at the deputies. The deputies returned fire and one was hit in the left arm. The deputy is doing well and will return home Friday evening, Manatee County Sheriff Rick Wells said.

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After shooting at the deputies, Calcutti fled about a quarter mile from the nursing home. With the help of the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office canine unit, officers were able to find him at 5:44 a.m. and took him into custody. The gun he was carrying fell out of his shorts while officers were apprehending him.

“At first it was just concern and worry about my deputy's condition,” Wells said. “Once I realized that [the deputy] everything would be fine, there is joy and relief. From that moment on, I go into a redneck rage, where I'm absolutely pissed off at what this bastard did.

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As the suspect fled the scene, the deputy who was not shot took the injured deputy to a nearby Shell gas station, where he placed a tourniquet on the deputy's arm to stop the bleeding and eventually took him to the hospital.

“He [Calcutti] We should be grateful that we are an agency that trains properly and doesn’t treat people the same way they treated us,” Wells said. “He didn’t care about my deputies, their well-being or their families.”

While deputies regrouped at the gas station, Bradenton, Holmes Beach and Palmetto police officers helped set up a perimeter around the nursing home.

Deputies aren't sure why Calcutti crashed into the nursing home, but they will continue to investigate and will question him later Friday. Wells could not confirm whether or not the man was under the influence of alcohol or another substance. He added that the man had no connection with the nursing home and that no one lived or worked there who was connected to Calcutti.

Wells called Calcutti a “dirty bag” after shooting the nursing home employee and two of his deputies. He said the man had an extensive violent criminal history in Florida and New York.

In 2010, Calcutti faced second-degree murder charges that were later dismissed in Manatee County. From 2019 to 2021, Calcutti faced three different charges for battery, domestic violence and stalking in Manatee County.

“He should not — in my opinion — be walking the streets of Manatee County,” Wells said. “How this happened, I don’t know.”

Lina Portman

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