FL - Anthony Diotaiuto, 23, shot to death by SWAT team, 5 Aug 2005

The SWAT team assembled outside Anthony Diotaiuto's home in Sunrise Golf Village early Friday morning, expecting to find drugs and guns, authorities said.

Inside, Diotaiuto had been home for only a few hours after his night shift at one of the two jobs he kept to help pay for the home where he lived with his mother. He had a valid concealed weapons permit and kept a shotgun and a handgun for safety, friends said.

It was about 6:15 when the SWAT team smashed in Diotaiuto's door and shot him dead.

The shooting outraged and confused Diotaiuto's friends, who said he had no criminal record, was not violent and didn't sell drugs.

Diotaiuto was the third person killed in police-involved shootings in the past three days in South Florida. Earlier Friday, a federal drug agent in West Palm Beach shot and killed a man in an unrelated investigation. And on Tuesday, a Miami police officer killed a drug and alcohol recovery patient after the man pointed a gun at an officer, officials said.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/lo...ug06,0,3364596.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines

Police officers who shot and killed a man in his house had a search warrant and were looking for drugs, a newspaper report Sunday said.

According to the search warrant, the police were looking for money, bookkeeping records, firearms and other evidence that Diotaiuto was a drug dealer. The warrant was provided to the newspaper by Diotaiuto's family.

Cannabis and drug paraphernalia, along with firearms and a BB gun, were listed as items seized, but the warrant did not specify the amount of drugs or what type of paraphernalia was confiscated.

Friends said Diotaiuto was not a drug dealer and described him a hardworking and caring person. Outside his home on Saturday, a poster apparently addressed to police read: "Did you find what you were looking for?"
http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/apnews/stories/080705/D8BR5UIG0.shtml

Police seized 2 ounces of marijuana at the home of Anthony Diotaiuto after shooting him 10 times, according to information on the drug raid released Tuesday.

The SWAT team knocked on Diotaiuto's door and "announc[ed] their presence" before smashing in his door about 6:15 a.m. They found Diotaiuto in his living room and ordered him to "freeze" and get on the ground.

Instead, Voss said, Diotaiuto fled to his bedroom and "armed himself" with a loaded handgun. Voss said it is unclear whether Diotaiuto pointed the gun at officers.

Neighbors who said they were up at 6:15 a.m. when the raid occurred said they heard the crash of the front door being smashed, but no yelling announcing the presence of police.

Rudy Strauss, Diotaiuto's next-door neighbor, came to his window when his wife noticed the SWAT team descend on the house in the sleepy Sunrise Golf Village. No words were exchanged outside Diotaiuto's home, he said.

"I heard this loud bang, and I saw a flash," Strauss said Tuesday. "I never heard them say `Police.' If somebody were pounding on the door, I would definitely hear that, or if they yelled, `Police, police!'"
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/lo...0aug10,0,7916325.story?coll=sfla-news-broward