Seminole County deputy fatally shoots suspect in child porn probe

A Seminole County deputy fatally shot Gary Wayne Guckenberger outside his Longwood home after investigators said he tried to draw a gun during an arrest attempt tied to a child-exploitation probe in the Wekiva Springs area.

The case began with a National Center for Missing and Exploited Children CyberTip, according to the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office. Detectives then served a residential search warrant on Sept. 9, 2025, at 102 Hatfield Ct. in unincorporated Longwood, where they identified Guckenberger, born March 13, 1957, and said he was armed with a firearm on his person. Deputies also found additional firearms inside the home.

Investigators said forensic analysis of seized electronic devices turned up hundreds of images of child pornography, which led them to obtain an arrest warrant. WFTV reported investigators later said the material included more than 100 sexually explicit videos and pictures involving children, and that Sheriff Dennis Lemma said detectives believed Guckenberger had communicated with another woman about sexual activity with her child, though they did not believe that contact actually occurred.

Deputies were surveilling Guckenberger on Sept. 17, 2025, when he walked out of the house with a fully loaded weapon in his waistband, the sheriff’s office said. In the driveway area near Hatfield Court and East Wekiva Trail, a detective warned him not to reach for the gun. The sheriff’s office said Guckenberger tried to draw it, and the detective fired and struck him. Deputies rendered life-saving aid until Seminole County Fire Department crews arrived, but Guckenberger died.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement will investigate the shooting as standard procedure, and the detective involved was placed on administrative leave. That independent review now sits alongside the underlying criminal case, which centered on child-exploitation allegations that began with a tip, moved to a search warrant, and ended in a fatal confrontation in a residential Seminole County neighborhood.

WFTV reported that Guckenberger had retired from the Seminole County Fire Department in 2013 after starting there in 1984. The shooting has intensified local scrutiny of how the sheriff’s office handles surveillance, warrant service, and use-of-force decisions when an investigation shifts from digital evidence to an armed arrest in the field.