Update: Man Shot in Burning Home Refused to Stop Hitting Woman, Cops Say

Update Nov. 11, 1:43 p.m.: The Plant City Police Department has released more details about a Tuesday morning incident that left one man dead after being shot by an officer.

According to the department, the two children removed from the burning home were ages 13 and 18. The girls told police their mother was inside the home, locked in a bedroom with a man.

Officer James Burchett walked around the outside of the burning home until he came to the bedroom window. When he looked inside, he saw a man attacking a woman with a weapon.

After several commands for the man to stop, Burchett fired a single shot, an email from the department said.

The man died at the scene.

While the children were not injured, their mother was taken to a local hospital. She suffered several stab wounds to her upper torso, police said.

As of Tuesday afternoon, she was listed in stable condition and is expected to recover.

Burchett is a five-year veteran of the department. He has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Earlier:

Plant City Police who arrived on the scene of a house fire Tuesday morning encountered more than anticipated when a person inside the home was seen beating a woman.

According to the police department, the incident took place around 3:53 a.m. when officers received a 911 call about a fire at 107 S. Maryland Ave. Police were told there were four people inside the home.

When officers arrived, they saw the car port and a portion of the home was on fire. Police entered the home and were able to find two children and take them outside to safety. They, however, learned that a man and a woman were still inside the burning home, shuttered behind a locked bedroom door.

An officer went outside and walked around the home to the bedroom window, where he observed a male subject actively assaulting a female victim,” Sgt. Alfred Van Duyne wrote in an email to media.

The officer told the man repeatedly to stop, but was ignored, Van Duyne wrote.

“The officer was forced to use an appropriate level of force to end the assault and ensure the victim’s safety,” he said.

The man was taken into custody and the woman was transported to an area hospital. The children are uninjured and are in care of police at this time, he added.

Van Duyne didn’t elaborate on the type of “force” used by the officer, but the email to media titled the incident a “shooting.”

No further details about the incident have been made available at this time.

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