A weeklong search for a Gainesville man ended in tragedy in the parking lot of the Jacksonville International Airport Friday morning.
Detectives found David Reiser, 66, in his van minutes before he reportedly shot himself in the head.
The Alachua County Sheriff's Office, or ASO, issued a silver alert for Reiser on Nov. 8 after friends from his band reported him missing, said ASO spokesman Steve Maynard.
The silver alert program, which was signed by Gov. Charlie Crist in October, broadcasts information to find missing elderly people who may be in danger.
Maynard said an alert for Reiser was displayed on Department of Transportation message boards statewide for the week he was missing.
Detectives tracked Reiser's cell phone to the Jacksonville area, where they found what appeared to be his unoccupied van in a parking lot at the airport Thursday, Maynard said.
ASO detective Sheryl Strickland, along with officers from the airport and the Florida Attorney General's Office, approached the van at about 10 a.m. and saw a sleeping man who appeared to be Reiser through the tinted windows.
Strickland knocked on the window and woke him up, and Reiser spoke to her through the window but appeared confused and disoriented, Maynard said.
He then reached over in the van and pointed a handgun at Strickland, Maynard said.
"She yelled, 'Gun! Gun!' and everyone took cover behind the cars," Maynard said.
Officials heard a single gunshot. Because they were unsure of the target, they waited until Jacksonville Sheriff's Office officials arrived with a bulletproof shield to approach the van.
They found Reiser dead from a self-inflicted bullet wound to the head, Maynard said.
Maynard said Reiser had a history of blacking out for days at a time and not knowing who he was.
