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Hillsborough deputy received commendation days before Thonotosassa shooting

 
Deputy Scott Ranney, 43, was treated and released from the hospital after Thursday’s shooting.
Deputy Scott Ranney, 43, was treated and released from the hospital after Thursday’s shooting.
Published Aug. 15, 2015

A Hillsborough sheriff's deputy who was injured in a shooting Thursday received a commendation days earlier for his handling of a possible kidnapping, personnel records show.

Last Saturday, a man was seen forcing a young woman into a car. Hillsborough Deputy Scott Ranney and other officers worked to locate the woman and learned that the incident was actually a "nonviolent domestic dispute."

Then on Thursday, shortly after midnight, Ranney and two other deputies responded to a call in Thonotosassa of shots fired near Greystone Road. They arrived in the neighborhood of modest single-story homes and apartment buildings south of U.S. 301 and east of Interstate 75.

They walked the street together, looking for the person who was reported to have fired gun shots in the neighborhood. The Sheriff's Office said they saw a man in front of a duplex. When they walked toward him, the man turned around, firing from a handgun. They fired back, and the man ran.

Ranney — who is married with three children — was shot in the thigh and suffered a flesh wound. He was treated Thursday at Tampa General Hospital and released.

The 43-year-old arrived in Florida by way of Indiana, where he was born, raised and attended high school. He went straight into the Marines after he graduated in 1991 and served until 1995, according to his personnel file.

After an honorable discharge, he worked a series of odd jobs. One of them was in a Department of Defense mail room in Germany. From 2004 to 2008, he was a construction supervisor building houses. When he was laid off in 2008, he decided to become a sheriff's deputy.

In his job application, he said he had always been interested in a law enforcement career. He said he liked the idea of "helping to make the world a better place."

He started as a Hillsborough jail deputy in 2009, receiving high marks and praise in annual performance reviews. In December, he became a patrol deputy.

Also on Friday, the Sheriff's Office released the names of the other two deputies involved in the shooting.

Deputies Robert Klocksieben, 25, and David R. Mahoney, 29, were placed on standard administrative leave pending an investigation into the shooting. Both have been with the Sheriff's Office for about two years.

The shooting touched off a manhunt that lasted through the day but netted no arrests, and the man who shot Ranney remains at large.

Hillsborough sheriff's officials said they have developed "solid leads," though no additional details have been released.

Contact Dan Sullivan at dsullivan@tampabay.com or (813) 226-3386. Follow @TimesDan.