The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) reported today on the suicide of Deputy Christopher Former, 49. According to HCSO, on December 29, 2021, just after 7 p.m., Hillsborough County’s 911 center received a call from a family member of Former. The caller said that he made suicidal threats to a family member over the phone.

Image/David Benbennick
Deputies responded to Former’s home in the Mira Lago neighborhood in Ruskin and made contact with Former who briefly interacted with deputies and then barricaded himself inside his home.
Deputies and Negotiators worked to bring Former out of his home peacefully. SWAT entered the home just after 11 p.m., and Former was discovered deceased inside, from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Deputy Former had worked with the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office for 23 years, most recently serving as a Community Resource Deputy in the Ruskin area.
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