A man who was accused of murdering his 40-year-old girlfriend and three children in Lake Wales was shot during a multi-hour standoff with local law enforcement at a Sanford motel.
On Wednesday, Seminole County Sheriff Dennis M. Lemma and Sanford Police Department Chief Cecil Smith held a press conference regarding an officer-involved shooting that took place early this morning at Slumberland Motel, which is located at 2611 S Orlando Drive in Sanford.
During the incident, 38-year-old Al Joseph Stenson was shot and killed by police after hours of negotiations at the motel.
Stenson was accused of killing his 40-year-old girlfriend, as well as her children who were 21-years-old, 17-years-old, and 11-years-old, in Lake Wales on Tuesday morning.
After the quadruple homicide, Stenson fled the scene and went to the Sanford motel, where Lake Wales Police officers eventually found him.
Investigators from the Lake Wales Police Department and Sanford Police Department went to the hotel at around 2 a.m. after reports of the suspect’s vehicle being located directly across the motel.
At around 3 a.m., police saw Stenson walking across the street. Eventually, they made contact with the Stenson and began negotiations.
At around 6 a.m., additional units from the Seminole County combined SWAT team, which was comprised of police from five of seven municipalities in Seminole County, were deployed to the scene.
The Seminole County SWAT Crisis Negotiation Team took over negotiations and, according to Sheriff Lemma, those talks “appeared to be pretty successful.”
During their conversations, police talked with Stenson’s brother, who was living at the motel. In the background, police could hear Stenson, confirming he was at the location.
At numerous times during their conversation with Stenson, he indicated that the standoff would end in “one of three ways,” according to Lemma.
“‘I’m going to kill myself,’ ‘you’re going to kill me,’ or ‘I’m going to surrender,'” said Lemma, quoting Stenson.
Eventually, negotiators were able to convince Stenson to exit his hotel room, which was directly next to the hotel room where his brother was staying. Stenson’s brother was removed from the scene and police continued negotiations for multiple hours, according to Lemma.
“The last thing we want to do is use lethal force. Ideally, we would like to talk to somebody and bring them into custody,” said Lemma. Lemma said that police were able to talk Stenson into putting a handheld firearm down on the ground sometime shortly before 9:30 a.m.
As Stenson stepped away from the firearm, authorities attempted to use a 40 millimeter “foam baton” to neutralize Stenson. Although the measure was successfully deployed, it had “little effect” on Stenson, according to Lemma.
After deploying the baton, Stenson went back to retrieve the gun sitting on the ground and was shot by four police officers. Lemma says shots were fired by two members of the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office, one member of the Altamonte Springs Police Department, and one member of the Sanford Police Department.
As soon as Stenson hit the ground, SWAT team operators moved in, with one of them immediately beginning to administer CPR.
Those efforts were unsuccessful, and Stenson was pronounced deceased at the scene.
According to Lemma and Smith, Stenson had no connection to the area other than his brother. Authorities are still looking into the motives behind Stenson’s actions, saying he had a few mild encounters with the criminal justice system.
Lemma says Lake Wales Police Department is handling the investigation into the murders of the family members who were found dead in Polk County on Tuesday.