Six-hour east Winter Garden standoff ends peacefully

WINTER GARDEN  A six-hour standoff with a barricaded suspect in east Winter Garden ended peacefully Monday afternoon.

Police identified the suspect as Eddie Lewis Darby Jr., 44. Darby is a Winter Garden resident, recent court records show.

Orange County Sheriff’s Office officials said that Darby did not show up to court back in March 2017, when he was facing a 15-year sentence for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of cocaine. A warrant for his arrest was issued shortly after, and Winter Garden police and OCSO’s fugitive unit had since been working to locate him.

The search ended at 6 a.m. Monday, June 19, when the Florida Regional Fugitive Task Force located Darby at his home on 1130 Lincoln Terrace.

Jane Watrel, public information officer for OCSO, said that deputies and FRFTF members saw Darby enter the house around 6 a.m. and he would not come outside when asked. Deputies tried multiple times to contact him via phone and by calling him outside, Watrel said, but Darby refused to come out.

During the standoff, OCSO deputies evacuated the four homes surrounding Darby’s — one on each side — out of an abundance of caution.

“Because of the situation we wanted to take our time, which we normally do when we have barricaded suspects anyway, but this was a delicate situation,” Watrel said. “We called out SWAT team out about 9 a.m., three hours into it. When they rolled up to the house and made their presence known to him, he gave himself up peacefully.”

The standoff ended peacefully around 2:30 p.m. Darby’s girlfriend told deputies that he had three young children inside the house with him, which included his two 7- and 9-year-old stepchildren and his 1-year-old biological child. No one was harmed during the standoff.

“The children are fine, they are unharmed, it was frightening for them to see something like this but we are very thankful that it all ended peacefully,” Watrel said. “Our SWAT guys did a fantastic job of what could have been a very difficult situation.”

Court records show that Darby has an ongoing criminal history dating back to May 1989, which includes approximately 21 various criminal-felony cases, six misdemeanors and two domestic-violence incidents.

Most recently Darby was charged with driving with a suspended license after prior convictions, and driving under the influence. Watrel said Darby had known he was being sought since March 15 when the warrant was issued. He is facing 15 years in prison.

“He’s a serious, convicted felon,” Watrel said. “We don’t call in the Florida Regional Fugitive Task Force unless we’re dealing with someone who’s a serious felon. He has 21 convictions, he’s facing 15 years in prison, so this was a very delicate situation that our SWAT members had to face. They did a terrific job of mitigating this, getting him to give himself up, and the children are fine.”

Contact Danielle Hendrix at [email protected].