PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — A Palm Beach County deputy was forced to shoot and kill a "dangerous" man armed with a rifle and shotgun who was threatening people and tried to carjack a woman with a child inside a vehicle, Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said Thursday.
The incident happened just before 9:30 a.m. in a shopping plaza at Hypoluxo Road and Military Trail.
Bradshaw said when a deputy arrived, he found the man, who has not been identified, with a shotgun in a shopping cart and a rifle on the ground next to the cart.
The deputy told the man to put his hands in the air and get down on the ground.
"Tried to deescalate the situation. Suspect didn't want anything to do with that. He actually walked over to the shopping cart, picked up the shotgun," Bradshaw said.
The sheriff said the deputy was eventually successful in getting the man to drop the shotgun. However, he then picked up the rifle and walked toward the deputy, pointing the weapon at him.
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The deputy was forced to shoot the man at least once, Bradshaw said.
"Bottom line is the deputy did everything he could to de-escalate the situation," Bradshaw said. "You have a dangerous individual here that was threatening people in a violent manner out here on the street. Tried to carjack a lady with a young child inside the car. Very much a danger to the public."
Bradshaw said the man has a criminal background of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and resisting arrest with violence.
"This could've ended really bad. Who knows who he was gonna shoot?" Bradshaw said. "The deputy did a good job neutralizing a very dangerous threat out here."
Photos from the WPTV news crew at the scene showed part of a shopping center parking lot blocked off with crime scene tape.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is also at the scene, according to WPTV's Jessica Bruno.
Bradshaw said the deputy would be placed on paid administrative leave, which is standard protocol when a law enforcement officer discharges his or her weapon.
Officials restricted access to the shopping plaza for hours with crime scene tape for most of Thursday. Yves Chery, who owns Chery's Ice Cream Shop in the plaza, said he watched the shooting unfold as he watched in the corner of his store.
He said he backed away from the door as he saw officers raise their guns and said one bullet went through the door. Chery said he thought he was shot because he felt a rush of heat in his leg, but he saw no blood.
"I'm happy to be alive today," he said.
Chery said he plans to open the shop in two weeks but had to cancel an order of ice cream today because of the shooting.