Flagler County man who fended off shooting at suspect wins lifesaving award
FLAGLER COUNTY, Florida. – On Thursday, Paul Ibelli was awarded the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office for fighting off a suspect in a nightclub shooting last November.
“I don’t think I deserve this, I just helped everyone,” Ibelli said at the awards ceremony.
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Ibelli said he doesn’t want credit for his actions last November 20, but the sheriff wants to make sure he knows how brave he is.
“We were very lucky, and everyone who was in that bar that night was lucky,” said Sheriff Rick Staley.
Steele said Connor Anderson, 30, was at the Smiles Nite Club that day when he couldn’t find his keys.
“I had a fight over lost keys. Went back to my car, came back with a gun, got another patron in a headlock that I was arguing with over my keys,” the sheriff said.
Staley said that when Anderson blocked the woman with his head, bartender David Giloni jumped into the bar and Ibelli, who was a customer, jumped up to help her.
“Basically, we were just trying to clean up the place and just ‘go home man,’ but that didn’t happen,” Ibelli said.
All of this was caught on surveillance video.
“Dave and I tried to push him out of there, and then he pulled out a gun,” Ibelli said.
Steele said that Anderson managed to fire several shots at the bar.
“Fortunately, despite the fact that he was able to take six shots in that nightclub, which is not so big, no one was injured,” the sheriff said.
He said it was because Ibelli and Giloni grabbed Anderson and tried to wrest the gun from his hands.
“Basically, I was just trying to snatch the gun from his hands,” Ibelli said.
Giloni also received a life-saving award, but the sheriff gave it to him back in December before he left. The sheriff said that if they hadn’t worked together on this, the result could have been much worse.
“This man could have been charged with murder, not aggravated assault and a host of other felony charges,” the sheriff said.
Anderson faces 15 charges and his case is still in court. He is due to appear in court on February 8.
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texasstandard.news contributed to this report.
