William May Obituary, Death; – The individual responsible for the shooting death of Walton County Deputy William May on Wednesday has been identified as Timothy Mark Jarvinen, a 58-year-old man, as per the incident report.
On Thursday, the Walton County Sheriff’s Office provided Newschain with the incident report, which identifies Jarvinen as a 58-year-old white male residing on Shakespeare Court in DeFuniak Springs, close to the Dollar General on Highway 90 where the event occurred. Reports indicate that Jarvinen rode his bicycle to the store on Wednesday afternoon.
Previously, Newschain reported that Jarvinen, now confirmed as the suspect, brandished a firearm at Deputy May while the deputy was escorting him out of the Dollar General. Deputy May had responded to the store following a report that Jarvinen was creating a disturbance and refusing to leave.
Walton County Sheriff Mike Adkinson Jr. stated that Deputy May returned fire after being shot at by Jarvinen, who was pronounced dead at the scene.
Although Sheriff Adkinson did not disclose Jarvinen’s name during the press conference on Wednesday night, he did provide some information regarding his background.
According to Sheriff Adkinson, Jarvinen’s criminal history does not suggest any propensity for violence, and he was a holder of a concealed weapons permit. “He had additional firearms in his home when we conducted a search,” the sheriff noted. “However, there was no evidence of violent behavior. In fact, he had not been arrested by our agency.”
Court records indicate that Jarvinen had no prior arrests in Walton County or anywhere in Northwest Florida. He had two civil cases filed in the Walton County Clerk of Courts, one in 2017 and another in 2018, both related to financial matters.
Sheriff Adkinson mentioned that Jarvinen had been a resident of the area for several years and that law enforcement had interacted with him over the past couple of years regarding minor issues, including welfare checks.
