PORT ORANGE – The suicidal man shot by police on Monday, Sept. 1, in front of a home in the Willow Run subdivision was in the Volusia County Branch Jail on Thursday, facing at least seven felony charges, according to jail and court documents.
Shane Robin Bardes, a 39-year-old dishonorably discharged U.S. Marine and sex offender, was charged Wednesday with shooting into a building, failing to register as a sex offender, grand theft of a firearm, possession of a firearm by an in-state felon, and resisting arrest with violence, according to court records.
Other than a short post on Facebook on the day of the shooting, the Port Orange Police have released little to no information on the incident. Bardes was identified by neighbors and through public records. Police fired several rounds at Bardes, but it’s not clear if he was seriously wounded.
He is scheduled to be in court on Thursday afternoon.
Neighbors describe harrowing afternoon
Jason and Holly Carm, neighbors of Bardes, said they remember when he moved in with his girlfriend in the area of Kerry Court and Chamale Lane about three months ago, and how he came around to introduce himself.
“Within the first 10 minutes or 10 seconds, he had already, like, said ‘Hey, my name is Shane,’ he gave me a fake last name or whatever,” Jason Carm said. “He said he was a former special operations Marine and that he was a sniper.”
Port Orange police did not respond to a News-Journal request for an incident report or updates on the officer-involved shooting on Wednesday, but neighbors’ accounts and the 911 call made to dispatchers just before the shooting indicate the person shot at by police was Bardes.
In the call to 911, Bardes says, “I am a former Marine. I am a wanted felon. I have a weapon.” As Bardes spoke to the dispatcher, his girlfriend could be heard in the background crying and pleading with him. He tells her to leave the house.
“I would say I have a hostage, but I don’t because I am asking her to leave,” he tells the dispatcher.
‘I am wanted for sex offenses’
In the five-minute 911 call, Bardes talked about how he had cameras all around the home, and that if anyone touched them, he was going to kill himself. “Do you understand? This is not a joke. This is real,” Bardes told the 911 dispatcher.
Bardes then tells the dispatcher he is a wanted man. “I am wanted for sex offenses, of a crime I never (expletive) committed,” Bardes said.
Bardes told the dispatcher he didn’t want police to arrive with sirens blasting and that he had a guest staying with him. He told the dispatcher he knew all about police and their tactics and that he could see every move they made around his house.
“If one person gets on my roof, I will shoot through it. If one person gets near (or damages) my camera, I will shoot, do you understand?” Bardes says.
The dispatcher asks Bardes if he was having suicidal thoughts, and he responded, “(expletive) yeah.”
Asked if he had thoughts of hurting anyone else or just himself, Bardes answered, “Depends.”
Charged with forcible sodomy, forcible rape
According to court records, New Smyrna Beach police arrested Bardes in 2019 when they responded to the Sea Vista Motel, where an armed, suicidal Bardes refused to come out of his room.
Bardes, who was armed with a stolen pistol, eventually peacefully gave himself up, police said.
In that 2019 arrest, New Smyrna Beach police noted that Bardes was a sexual offender who, while serving in the United States Marine Corps, was charged with forcible sodomy and forcible rape.
New Smyrna Beach police said Bardes was court-martialed and pleaded guilty, and served five years in confinement. He was dishonorably discharged, court records show.
Bardes was prohibited from owning a firearm, so in the 2019 suicidal standoff, he was charged with possession of a stolen firearm by a felon.
‘I still have not stopped shaking,’ neighbor says
Shortly after Bardes made the 911 call on Sept. 1, Port Orange police units flooded the cul-de-sac at Kerry Court and Chamale Lane. Holly Carm said a neighbor alerted her to the police presence. She watched it unfold through a window.
“They were staging all around the cul-de-sac trying to figure out where he was going to come out or where he was in the house,” Holly Carm said.
After many attempts by police to get the suicidal man to come out of the house, Bardes exited the front door holding a shotgun to his chin, Holly Carm said.
“He did exit the front door of his house, and the police kept talking to him, trying to get him to stop, you know, “stop where you are, let me help you,” you know, offering every assistance they could,” Holly Carm said.
Bardes went to a mailbox near the end of the driveway. He had a thermos in one hand and AirPods in his ears. He walked around the mailbox and started walking toward the police, but then came back to the mailbox where he set down his thermos, pulled the AirPods out of his ears, and dropped them to the ground, Holly Carm said.
Police open fire
“And then he started walking with purpose towards the police. He had the shotgun under his chin,” Holly Carm said. Holly Carm said as Bardes walked toward the police, officers kept telling him to “stop, don’t make us do this, we don’t want to do this.”
Bardes did not slow down.
“He just continued walking straight towards them, and when he got in the middle (of the) street, that’s when they shot him,” Holly Carm said.
Jason Carm said he saw Bardes was shot at least once in the leg.
Carm said she doesn’t remember how many shots were fired, but after the repetitive “pop, pop, pop” sound of the police guns, Bardes fell to the ground, and officers ran to assist him.
Holly and her husband, Jason, would later discover damage from stray bullets to her walls and their son’s pickup. Officers came to check on them and their neighbors to make sure they were unharmed.
“I still have not stopped shaking. I think I’ve slept like three hours,” Holly Carm said.
‘He was bad news’
An elderly woman who declined to provide her name spoke to the News-Journal on Wednesday. She said police have been to the neighborhood about three times “on the account of Bardes and his girlfriend.”
“He was bad news. You are asking me about him, and I am being honest with you,” she said, peeking from behind her door.
Jason Carm and his wife, Holly, said Bardes behaved strangely. He would be up at 5 a.m. installing cameras all around the house, and kept asking if the neighbors’ cameras would capture their movements.
“He even wanted to know what angles our cameras are aiming at,” Holly Carm said.
And there were the mornings when Bardes would get out early and shout, “Good morning Willow Run,” Jason Carm said.
Jason said he wasn’t surprised by what happened on Labor Day and that it was “just a matter of time.”
News-Journal Executive Editor John Dunbar contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Suicidal man shot at by Port Orange police in standoff arrested, charged with felonies
Reporting by Patricio G. Balona, Daytona Beach News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
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