A late-night attempt to take a Florida man back into custody turned into gunfire inside a Wesley Chapel apartment, leaving one bail bondsman critically wounded and sending Pasco County deputies down a hallway behind a shield that would soon be struck by bullets.
Three bondsmen had gone to The Enclave apartments looking for Henry Josena after he failed to appear in Hillsborough County court. One of them made it toward the back of the apartment before Josena opened fire, according to the Pasco Sheriff’s Office.
The wounded bondsman made it out with help from another member of the group. The third was still inside, beyond Josena’s position, when deputies arrived and began moving into the apartment.
What followed left two deputies with minor shrapnel injuries, a hostage trapped farther inside, and visible bullet damage to the tactical shield leading the deputies’ advance. Deputies never fired back.
Behind The Shield
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Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco said the call reached the sheriff’s 911 center at about 12:58 a.m. on Sept. 10.
By the time deputies arrived, the badly wounded bondsman and one colleague had escaped the apartment. The third bondsman remained inside.
Deputies grabbed tactical shields and began calling for Josena to come out. Instead, another man emerged.
They initially handcuffed him before realizing he was Josena’s brother, Nocco said. Deputies then moved farther down the hallway.
That was when the shooting started again.
“As they’re moving down the hallway, they take several rounds,” Nocco said during the news conference.
The projectiles struck the shield and deflected, leaving two deputies with minor injuries. Nocco later displayed the damaged shield and credited it with preventing a much worse outcome.
“This shield absolutely saved their lives,” he said.
Both deputies were treated and were doing well after the shooting.
One Room Away
With Josena still inside, deputies established communication with the remaining bondsman.
The bondsman told them he was unharmed, but his location created a problem: he was in a back room beyond where Josena was positioned.
Deputies held their positions and deployed pepper balls into the apartment. When they eventually stopped hearing anything from Josena, they sent a drone inside rather than sending deputies blindly into the room.
The drone found Josena down.
Deputies entered and initially detected what Nocco described as a slight pulse, prompting them to call fire rescue. Josena was ultimately pronounced dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The remaining bondsman was brought out safely.
Pasco deputies also found shotguns, rifles, and handguns inside the room, according to Nocco. The sheriff said the scene gave responding deputies the impression Josena had been prepared for a confrontation, though the department has not attributed a specific plan or motive to him.
The sheriff’s office said the wounded bondsman was hospitalized and expected to survive. Nocco described his condition as critical during the early-morning briefing.
Before The Knock
The encounter began with a missed court appearance.
Pasco officials said the bondsmen were trying to take Josena into custody and revoke his bond following a failure to appear in Hillsborough County on lewd and lascivious charges.
An archived Hillsborough County booking index also lists Josena, then 28, among people booked on Nov. 13, 2025.
FOX 13 reported, citing court documents, that Josena had been charged with lewd or lascivious battery and unlawful use of a two-way communications device.
During the briefing, Nocco said deputies had only quickly reviewed Josena’s history and had not identified another prior record at that point. He said the failure-to-appear warrant had not yet entered the Pasco system when the bondsmen went looking for him.
Getting Through
There was another obstacle before deputies ever reached the apartment.
Nocco said responding units could not get the apartment complex’s access system to work. Deputies ultimately rammed through the gate.
He used the incident to urge apartment managers to keep law-enforcement access codes and emergency gate systems current.
“None of that was working,” Nocco said.
The sheriff’s office said body-camera footage from inside the residence is not releasable under Florida public-records law. Nocco also said much of what the cameras captured during the deputies’ advance was from behind the shield anyway.
Josena’s brother was not arrested. Nocco said deputies were speaking with him about what happened.
The Pasco Sheriff’s Office investigation remained ongoing after the shooting.