TAMPA, Fla. — The man who Tampa police said was involved in a deadly confrontation outside a Florida Department of Transportation office had last year railed against area transportation officials.
Florida Department of Law Enforcement identified him as Greg Parsons, who has stated he works as a transportation engineering consultant from Jacksonville. A series of videos Parsons posted criticized FDOT District 7 officials and Pasco County Metropolitan Planning Organization members.
On April 17, Tampa police said Parsons threatened to drive into the FDOT building on McKinley Drive and stated he was in the parking lot with a bomb.
"It's clear this subject was here to cause harm," Chief Lee Bercaw said during the press conference last week.
Police said Parsons shot himself when authorities approached him. Inside his SUV, Bercaw said they found multiple handguns, magazines, tanks of gas and wires. The scene was cleared the morning after and traffic on McKinley Drive was resolved.
RELATED: Police: Man threatened to drive into building before taking his own life in FDOT parking lot
RELATED: Tampa 911 dispatchers teaming up with Crisis Center of Tampa Bay to improve mental health response
In a series of videos posted to Parsons' YouTube page, he criticized officials. In one video, he called them "craven bureaucrats" and "corrupt politicians."
Parsons expressed frustrations that officials did not choose his patented intersection design for U.S. Highway 41 and State Road 54.
In a Tampa Bay Times article from February 2023, Parsons was quoted stating, "They designed it to fail" in response to the plan officials chose to keep traffic flowing at the intersection. Parsons added his plan was "superior in every way."
At that same meeting, a deputy could be heard telling Parsons he needed to leave after having an outburst during a presentation.
A commissioner could be seen on camera a short time after Parsons was asked to leave. In a video Parsons posted to his page, he criticized the commissioner for "laughing at me," and referred to him with multiple expletives.
Parsons also shared email exchanges he had with officials through the videos. His website accuses officials of costing him and taxpayers millions of dollars due to their plan.
10 Tampa Bay reached out to Pasco County officials for comment but have not heard back as of Monday evening.
A spokesperson for FDOT wrote the following statement:
"FDOT’s utmost gratitude goes out to all first responders, including our law enforcement personnel (Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Florida Highway Patrol, and Tampa Police Department) whose quick actions kept our team safe and contained the incident. As this is an ongoing investigation, FDOT declines any further comments and directs questions to FDLE."
Anyone experiencing a mental health crisis is urged to reach out for help. You can contact the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay at 211 or call 911. The Suicide and Crisis Lifeline can be reached at 988.