FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Deputies closed Broward Boulevard in both directions for hours after a Broward Sheriff’s Office deputy with the special operations unit fatally shot a man on Thursday near Fort Lauderdale.
Surveillance video shows deputies running after a suspect and then he appears to turn toward them. The suspect then falls to the ground.
“Our officers were able to . . . give him an opportunity to surrender. Instead, he drew a firearm at which time our deputies fired on the individual,” Sheriff Gregory Tony said during a news conference.
Tony said the man was a suspect in a narcotics transaction and he was a career criminal armed with a gun.
It started Thursday before noon when a special unit was conducting an undercover drug deal or what is called a “buy bust.”
Witnesses said deputies followed the man out of the Walmart Supercenter, at 2500 W Broward Blvd., across from the BSO headquarters. The man ran to the parking lot, got inside a car, and drove away.
“Broward Sheriff’s Office detectives from various units were working a planned operation when they attempted to take a suspect into custody in Central Broward,” said Veda Coleman-Wright, a spokeswoman for BSO.
Witnesses said they saw deputies following the man westbound on Broward Boulevard. The suspect crashed, jumped out of the car, and ran. Deputies followed and got close to catching him, just west of Northwest 27th Avenue, ordered him to surrender, but he refused, according to Tony.
“He turned on the officers with a firearm and that’s when they engaged,” Tony said.
Surveillance video shows the shooting. Witnesses said they heard four gunshots. The man died outside of the RAW Wheels & Tires at Northwest 27th Terrace.
Paramedics arrived but the suspect later died at the hospital.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the deputy-involved shooting.
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