NORTH MIAMI BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - An investigation is underway after a police-involved shooting took the life of a suspect who, sources said, was armed with a machete and holding a woman hostage at a medical complex in North Miami Beach.
7Skyforce hovered over the scene of the Venture Center, located at Northeast 168th Street and 68th Avenue, Thursday afternoon.
According to 7News sources, an incident happened inside the medical office building where a man held a machete to a woman’s neck.
“They gave him commands that he refused to obey,” said North Miami Beach Police Chief Harvette Smith. “Then tased that subject. The subject fled.”
After the suspect failed to comply with authorities, he ran toward nurses and medical personnel while still holding his weapon.
“Once inside that office building, my officers observed the subject take a female in custody. The machete was pointed at her neck in an attempt to kill her,” said Smith.
Officers yelled for him to stop, but he continued on his spree of terror. Police were then forced to shoot and killed the suspect.
“Making my officers resort to use deadly force to save a life,” said Smith.
That woman is said to be OK as she was not physically hurt during the encounter. Meanwhile, relatives of 38-year-old Edridge Alexis said he was the man with the blade.
“He had it in his hand, but he’s not going to hurt nobody,” said a relative who happens to also be a road ranger.
He lived a couple of hundred feet from where he died.
Detectives processed the area near his home after he was shot, as his family grieves.
“My brother, like,” said another man. “He has some mental issues.”
The woman who was held hostage, sources said, was visiting the building and not an employee there.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement has taken over the investigation as per protocol for any police-involved shooting.
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