‘A split-second decision’: Officer fatally shoots knife-wielding man in Miami Beach, cops say
A police officer shot and killed a man who was holding a knife to a girl’s throat inside a store at a busy South Beach shopping district Thursday evening, a law enforcement source told the Miami Herald.
Around 5:30 p.m., Miami Beach officers responding to a “disturbance call” found a man threatening two people with a knife at 901 Lincoln Road, police said on Twitter. One of the officers, police say, then discharged his firearm, striking the suspect.
According to a law enforcement source, he was threatening the girl with a knife inside of a Victoria’s Secret store in the Lincoln Road shopping district. Officers told the man to put the weapon down, per the source. After he didn’t drop it, the source added, an officer shot him in the head area.
“He had to make a split second decision,” Robert Hernandez, president of Miami Beach’s Fraternal Order of Police, said about the officer who shot the suspect. “He saved the young girl’s life. It was heroic.”
Paramedics took the man to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Unit in critical condition, police said. Authorities confirmed late Thursday night that the man died at the hospital.
According to police, “the two victims are safe and speaking with detectives.” The police officer also was unharmed.
Florida Department of Law Enforcement will investigate the shooting.
The subject was transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Unit and is in critical condition. The two victims are safe and speaking with detectives.
2/3— Miami Beach Police (@MiamiBeachPD) July 27, 2023
This developing story will be updated as more information becomes available.
