BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – Records released Friday provided new details into what led up to the hourslong standoff at a Melbourne home that ended with the arrest of a Cocoa police officer.
According to the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office, deputies were called to a home along Framura Lane around 10:30 p.m. Wednesday after a woman reported that Cocoa officer Patrick Kelly, 39, was threatening both her and himself with a gun.
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According to a news release, a SWAT team negotiated with Kelly, though the officer fired his gun several times from inside the home. However, no one was struck by his gunfire, the release says.
Records show Kelly was arrested just after 6 a.m. Thursday morning.
Following his arrest, detectives said they spoke with the woman, who told them that Kelly had come home angry around 3:30 p.m. Wednesday afternoon. According to the woman, Kelly had been drinking and was agitated over various issues from his past, deputies said.
At one point, Kelly had taken the woman’s phone, refusing to let her leave the bathroom until she did so, the affidavit shows.
Later in the night, the woman found Kelly in his bedroom with an AK-47, AK-15 and several modified magazines he had taped together, investigators said. At this point, the woman became afraid and felt like she couldn’t leave the home, according to deputies.
According to the affidavit, Kelly refused to de-escalate the situation, instead telling the woman, “No, no, no, if you called the police, I’m going to jail. I’m telling you right now, I’m not going back to jail. This is aggravated assault with a firearm. This is false imprisonment.”
Instead, Kelly grabbed the woman by the shirt while saying he was going to shoot his sergeant in the face the next day and kill everyone while she watched, the affidavit shows.
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Kelly began to put on his duty vest and laid out his firearms by the bed, deputies said. The woman left for the kitchen, which is when she heard his shotgun go off, and she then fled the house through the garage before running down the street, deputies said.
During an interview with Kelly following his arrest, he told investigators that he had accidentally fired the shotgun, at which point he knew he’d messed up, the affidavit reveals.
Kelly also told investigators he fired his gun several times through the roof of the home to scare off the responding deputies and get them to leave him alone, deputies said. He added that he regretted his actions, the affidavit shows.
In a statement, the Cocoa Police Department revealed that Kelly had previously been arrested on a charge of domestic violence battery in 2017, but was allowed to keep his job because the charges were dropped.
“While there are those in the community that will take this opportunity to attribute the actions of Officer Kelly to current departmental leadership, Officer Kelly was previously arrested back in 2017 for felony domestic violence battery. After those charges were dropped, Officer Kelly was allowed to remain with the department,” the statement reads.
The department added that he is now suspended without pay pending his termination. Kelly had been employed as a Cocoa police officer since December 2007, according to the statement.
Kelly faces charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and discharging a firearm on residential property. He is being held on no bond.
Through his attorney, Kelly has already filed a not-guilty plea, requesting for a jury trial.
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