HOLLYWOOD, Fla. – A man was fatally shot Thursday morning by a Broward Sheriff’s Office deputy after he allegedly barricaded himself inside his home in Hollywood and then set the place on fire, authorities said.
According to a BSO spokeswoman, the SWAT standoff in the 2700 block of Dewey Street started sometime Wednesday morning after the man, who was identified by a family friend as Matthew Hyde, made threats to kill others and himself before barricading himself inside his home.
By around 4:30 a.m. Thursday, the home was engulfed in flames.
Hollywood firefighters used a ladder truck to extinguish the flames.
Relatives of Hyde told Local 10 News that he was standing on the back patio when the fire was raging.
According to authorities, at some point Thursday morning, the man “aggressively came toward BSO SWAT members with a long pole using it like a spear.”
A deputy then fired at the suspect, striking him at least once.
Hyde was taken to a local hospital, where he died.
“He barricaded himself in the house. I guess he got served some papers Saturday or Sunday,” Andria Cato said. “And I guess he just flipped out from that and they came back to check on him today and he didn’t come out. He was like, ‘I’m not coming out until y’all either take me or I take my own life.’”
A family friend told Local 10 News that Hyde was upset with his mother, who also lives in the house, after she had him served with papers, stating that he needed to vacate the home.
The friend says they tried to talk him out of acting erratically but were unsuccessful.
In now-deleted social media posts shared by Hyde’s friend, Hyde posted his address and stated that he was going to kill the first person to make it into the room he was in.
He then apparently set the house on fire from the inside.
“We heard the crackling of the fire -- we also heard sniper gunshots,” a man named Samuel, who lives nearby, said.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the deputy-involved shooting, per standard protocol.