DANIA BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - Family and friends gathered in Dania Beach to hold a memorial for the man who was shot and killed during a confrontation with Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies.
Joshua Gay’s friends and loved ones placed candles and his photo near where the shooting occurred, along the 2500 block of Sterling Road, Saturday night.
“We love Josh very much,” Angelina Liotard, a friend of Gay’s, said. “He wasn’t a bad person. He had the best sense of humor.”
Deputies were called to a home along Southwest 32nd Terrace in Dania Beach regarding a domestic disturbance, Friday night.
Rachel Renee Mercon, Gay’s girlfriend, said a friend called authorities because she was afraid he would hurt himself.
“I’m still numb,” she said. “He did not put his hands on me. He did not touch me. He went straight to the room, and he went into the safe. I was shutting off lights at the time, and he went and took the gun and took off.”
Detectives said Gay would end up off Sterling Road, where someone said a man was firing a gun. When deputies arrived on the scene, at some point, it turned into a confrontation between Gay and law enforcement.
Gay was taken to the hospital, but he would succumb to his injuries. He leaves behind three children.
“We all love him, and he’s a amazing person,” Mercon said. “This was not, you know — he needed help. I just hope that when they have somebody irrational like that, they actually use their brain instead of their gun.”
“He was struggling with using mind-altering substances, and it made him very paranoid,” Liotard said. “I want to know what really happened, and if someone can be held accountable, I want them held accountable for it.”
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement continues to investigate the shooting.
The deputy who fired his gun has been placed on administrative assignment pending the result of the investigation.
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