Police stand off in Florida follows man's firing shotgun at citrus inspectors

PLANTATION, Florida (CNN) -- A routine inspection of citrus trees led to a police stand off Tuesday, as Florida agriculture surveyors were chased off a Plantation property by a shotgun blast.

Surveyors were conducting door-to-door inspections for citrus canker disease when a man believed to be in his 60s greeted them with a shotgun, a spokesman for the Florida Department of Agriculture told CNN.

The surveyors, who were accompanied by two off-duty Broward County Sheriff's deputies, were told to get off the property, or be killed, the spokesman said.

They fled when the man fired his shotgun. No one was hurt, the spokesman said.

Police officers and a SWAT team converged on the man's home following the incident, and negotiators attempted to talk the man out of his house, officials said.

The door-to-door citrus inspections are conducted to help Florida eradicate the citrus canker, which destroys citrus trees. Even healthy trees are destroyed if they are growing within 1,900 feet of an infected tree.

The bacterial disease is highly contagious and can be spread by rain, lawn equipment, animals, birds, and people who carry the infection on their hands and clothing. It is not harmful to humans.

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Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services/ Citrus Canker
Broward County Sheriff's Office

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