He was waving a knife at a Ross Dress for Less. A Broward deputy shot him, sheriff says

A Broward sheriff’s deputy shot a knife-wielding man who harmed himself and threatened others at a North Lauderdale strip mall Thursday night, authorities say. The man died from his injuries.

Around 9:15 p.m., the 26-year-old man walked into a Ross store, 7300 West McNab Rd., waving around a knife and cutting himself, Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony said at a news conference. Several 911 calls were made to the sheriff’s office.

When the first deputy arrived, Tony said he saw the man, who has not been identified by BSO, inside the store still cutting himself — with blood everywhere. When the man left the Ross, he had the knife, threatening to harm himself and the deputy.

The deputy then tried to get the man to drop the knife. After failed attempts, the deputy attempted to walk backward in hopes of defusing the situation, but the man proceeded to charge at him with the knife.

“The deputy backed away as a tactical maneuver to try to deescalate,” Tony said.

The deputy subsequently shot the man several times, Tony added. The man was taken to Broward Health Medical Center, where he died from the gunshot wounds.

In a situation when a person has a knife, Tony noted that deputies aren’t trained to use a Taser as it is a “lesser use of force,” while a knife is “deadly force.”

“I think our deputy did an outstanding job trying to deescalate the situation,” Tony said.

A witness recorded the moments leading up to the deputy firing his weapon and gave the video to BSO.

“To a certain degree we were fortunate to have an individual who witnessed this and captured it on their phone and was able to cooperate and talk to our investigators so we have a chance to see this independently transpire,” Tony said.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement will investigate the situation further, a standard procedure in police-involved shootings.