A Highland County, Florda, man was shot and killed Tuesday afternoon after reportedly hitting a deputy with a metal rod.
Officials say the incident started with a bizarre exorcism where the suspect allegedly tried to burn a demon out of the 9-year-old son of his female companion and the boy's belongings.
Sheriff Paul Blackman said deputies were called by firefighters who were dispatched to handle burning debris on the side of the road. Arriving on scene they found 39-year-old Richard Myron-Ham armed with two metal rods.
The Highland County Sheriff's Office said Ham would not follow the deputy's orders, so they tasered him. Ham dropped the rods and pulled the TASER probes from his body. Phillips picked up one of the rods and handed it to Ham who used it to strike one of the deputies in the head, officials say. One of the deputies shot at him and Ham was fatally wounded.
He died at a local hospital.
Blackman said Ham and his companion, 30-year-old Lakenya Phillips, "were burning the possessions of Phillips’ 9-year-old son because they believed he was possessed by a demon."
Witnesses said he also put his son in that fire and covered him with a burning blanket, but he was able to escape serious injury.
"Phillips and the child were listed as missing and endangered out of Wichita, Kansas on Dec. 6. It still has not been determined when or why they came to Highlands County. Multiple firearms and drugs were found in the vehicle Ham and Phillips were driving at the time. Ham’s criminal history includes convictions for armed felonies and drug possession and multiple arrests in Arkansas, South Carolina and Georgia," the sheriff's office said on Facebook.
Lakenya Lavonn Phillips is in the Highlands County Jail on charges of attempted murder of a law enforcement officer, battery on a law enforcement officer, resisting arrest with violence and cruelty toward a child, the sheriff's office said.
Remains of the fire that Highland County, Florida, authorities say was being used for an exorcism ritual on a 9-year-old child. The man who started the blaze was fatally shot by a sheriff's deputy.Highland County SO
