Undercover deputy tackles armed suspect at Brooksville Walmart

An undercover Hernando County deputy tackled a armed suspect inside the Walmart customer service area in Brooksville after a fast-moving chase from Citrus County spilled into a busy shopping center Monday morning. Deputies said the man, later identified as 39-year-old Steven Sheehan, had fled an earlier confrontation near a Publix at Highway 98 and U.S. 19 and was still considered a danger when he reached the store at 13300 Cortez Blvd.

The chain of events began after a 911 caller reported that Sheehan was telling people to call police because he was crazy, a warning that helped deputies treat the situation as potentially volatile from the start. A sergeant spotted Sheehan’s red Mustang around 8:05 a.m. and tried to stop it, but the driver sped away and deputies broke off the chase. An undercover deputy tracked the vehicle into Brooksville, where Sheehan parked near the front of Walmart Supercenter #1213, left two guns on top of the car and ran inside while children were nearby in the parking area.

Sheriff Al Nienhuis said the deputy rushed in because officers did not know whether Sheehan was still armed. The undercover deputy caught up with him in the customer service area and physically took him into custody, ending the immediate threat inside the store. Nienhuis later said investigators believed they had enough evidence to pursue an aggravated assault with a firearm charge, and officials said Sheehan appeared to have mental-health issues before he was later calming down after the arrest.

No further danger to the public was reported after Sheehan was taken into custody. WFLA said witnesses at the Citrus County scene reported hearing gunshots, though no injuries were reported in the call for service. The initial confrontation remains a key unanswered piece of the case, along with whether additional charges will follow over the exposed firearms left on the vehicle.

The arrest landed in the middle of one of Hernando County’s busiest commercial corridors, at a Walmart that lists hours from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. The sheriff’s office says the county served a population of 218,150 as of July 1, 2024, and has grown nearly 390% since 1980, a scale that helps explain why a confrontation at a large retail store triggered such an immediate law-enforcement response.