OAKLAND PARK, FLA. (WSVN) - Authorities are investigating a deputy-involved shooting in Oakland Park that sent a man to the hospital and led to a major lane closure.
Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to reports of a suspicious person in the area of East Oakland Park Boulevard and Northeast Sixth Avenue, just before 5:50 p.m. on Sunday.
Investigators said deputies arrived to find a subject armed with a weapon.
Witness Andrew Wilkinson said that weapon was a knife, and he saw the man holding it on the sidewalk.
“The blade was probably six inches [long]. He had a handle, and the blade, it was pretty big. I wasn’t getting out of my car,” said Wilkinson. “I was parked right in front of him, and I’m watching him, and I said, ‘Something’s wrong here, he’s not right,’ and he was stabbing at the cars going by, and he was screaming.”
Witness Bill O’Connell said he was on one of those cars drving by.
“He was just crazy, you know? And he said, ‘Come on, come on,’ and I slowed down, and I looked at him and kept going, and then I made a U-turn, and he was doing it to everybody else, too,” said O’Connell.
O’Connell and Wilkinson were among several witnesses who called 911.
“He saw me in the car on the phone, and he started pointing the knife at me, and I told 911, ‘I have to leave, I don’t feel safe here,'” said Wilkinson.
Detectives said the subject refused several commands from deputies to put the weapon down.
“They showed up in force, and he didn’t stand down at all. They were trying to tell them to drop his weapon, and he didn’t do it. He wouldn’t lay down, refusing everything,” said O’Connell.
“Deputies made several commands for that individual to drop his weapon. However, he refused,” said BSO spokesperson Gerdy St. Louis. “Multiple less-than-lethal weapons were deployed in an attempt to subdue that individual.”
At some point, BSO officials said, the subject ran toward the deputies, forcing them to discharge their firearms.
“He was walking down the sidewalk, and they put more cars behind him and kind of closed him in, and he swung whatever was in his hand at the cop, and that’s when they lit him up,” said O’Connell.
Cellphone video recorded by a witness showed deputies surrounding the man as he lay on the pavement.
Paramedics with Oakland Park Fire Rescue responded to the scene and transported the injured subject to an area hospital in unknown condition. It’s unclear how many times he was shot.
Witnesses said deputies have him plenty of warning, but he did not back down.
“When the cops came up, he was taunting all the cops, saying, ‘Shoot me, shoot me, shoot me,'” said O’Connell. “Yeah, he was trying to get shot.”
Deputies shut down East Oakland Park Boulevard in both directions between Northeast Sixth Avenue and Northeast Fifth Terrace while they investigate.
BSO officials said their Internal Affairs Unit will conduct an internal investigation into the incident. They said several deputies involved have been placed on administrative leave, but they did not provide a number.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating this shooting.
Copyright 2024 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.