On December 15, 2024, Charlotte County lost Sergeant Elio Diaz to gunfire during a traffic stop in Charlotte Harbor. He was 40 years old. What began as an encounter in the course of public service ended with a rifle being raised, shots fired, and a life that could never be returned to the people and colleagues who depended on him. Sergeant Diaz was transported to ShorePoint Health Port Charlotte, where he succumbed to his wounds. The facts are stark, but they cannot measure the human cost: a public servant gone, a law enforcement family left to grieve, and a community forced to confront how suddenly…

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