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The second police shooting in five days left an Oak Orchard man dead. Two state police troopers shot Gary L. Bliss, 58, a Vietnam veteran suffering from bouts of depression, Wednesday, June 11.
Police said when troopers arrived, Bliss came out of a shed at the rear of his house yelling profanities and brandishing what looked like a .45-caliber handgun.
“This action has a profound effect on all of those involved,” said Delaware State Police Superintendent Col. Thomas F. MacLeish, speaking at a Thursday, June 12 press conference in Georgetown. “They gave him space, time and commands. They did everything they could to preserve his life. To protect themselves and others they had to take what action was necessary.”
The two troopers involved in the shooting are on administrative duty pending a review.
On Saturday, June 7, state police shot Richard Redmond, a former California Highway Patrol officer, after he fired shots at troopers during a standoff at his home south of Milford.
Troopers answer call
The two officers from Troop 4 in Georgetown, who both graduated from the Delaware State Police Academy in February, arrived at the house at 8:28 p.m. after receiving a call that an intoxicated man had cut his wrist and was threatening suicide. The 911-call came from his wife, Taffy Bliss.
As the troopers drove up to the house at 32487 River Road in the Riverdale section of Oak Orchard, Bliss came out of the shed.
“He approached the officers in an aggressive manner and verbally confronted them using profanity,” MacLeish said.
MacLeish said the officers pleaded with Bliss to drop the weapon, but he refused and continued to walk toward them. He opened fire on the officers as he continued to walk directly at one of them.
The officers retreated to cover, but continued to negotiate with Bliss to drop his weapon.
When it appeared he was not going to give up the gun, the two troopers opened fire discharging eight shots, MacLeish said.
“Officers feared for their own safety and the safety of the residents,” MacLeish said.
He said there had been no time to prepare an evacuation plan for nearby residents in the small, densely populated neighborhood.
The incident happened very quickly – in less than 10 minutes, said Col. Jeff Whitmarsh, state police public information officer.
The handgun was not a .45-caliber, but a high-pressured Crossman 20/10 air gun, or pellet gun, which is made to resemble a .45-caliber handgun. “It looks like a .45 and anyone would take it as a deadly weapon,” MacLeish said. He added that it sounds similar to a real weapon.
Whitmarsh said most pellet guns have an orange tip to easily identify them. The Bliss gun did not.
MacLeish hinted Bliss had a history of psychiatric problems, because this was not the first time troopers were summoned to the Bliss residence. Police were called to the house in 2002 when he pulled out a gun and threatened suicide. “He was committed to the Rockford Center,” MacLeish said.
MacLeish would not comment on what Bliss said to the troopers or what he was upset about because police continue to investigate. The names of the troopers are being withheld according to police policy but will be released Friday, June 13.
On the question of when deadly force is necessary, Whitmarsh said each case is different.
Whitmarsh said troopers could not have used stun guns in this case. “You need to be in close proximity to the subject, and you don’t use them when you have a deadly weapon pointed at you,” he said.
After the shooting, troopers rushed to Bliss to administer first aid, with emergency medical personnel taking over within minutes. “Unfortunately, Mr. Bliss died at the scene,” MacLeish said. His body was turned over to the State Medical Examiner for an autopsy.
Sgt. Josh Bushweller, state police public information officer, called the two police shootings extremely unusual.
“They are uncharacteristic from anything we have experienced in the past,” he said.
Checking police records back to 2001, he could not find another case of two police shootings within one week. “There is actually nothing close,” he said.
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River Road neighborhood serene after chaotic night
The day after a Millsboro man died after a standoff with police, the neighborhood on River Road had a serene feel.
Around the house at 32487 River Road, it seemed like any other day. No yellow tape, no blood marks, no bullet holes, no feeling that anything out of the ordinary had happened there just 24 hours ago.
Residents in the area seemed to be going about their business as usual, although many of them were not around in the afternoon of Thursday, June 12. Neighbors that were available called the night’s events “a tragedy,” although many of them did not know Gary Bliss, the victim, personally.
According to friends, Bliss was a Vietnam veteran who worked as a commercial truck driver, carpenter and electrician. Bliss was known to suffer from depression and had been on medication in the past. He was known as a quiet man who lived with his wife and kept to himself. Friends say Bliss enjoyed working in his garden and fish pond, as well as his two dogs.
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