LONGWOOD, Fla. – More details have been released after a Longwood officer fatally shot a man outside a Circle K gas station earlier this week.
The incident originally happened on Tuesday around 9:11 p.m. at the convenience store along West State Road 434, police said.
Officers said a store clerk called them over a man in the store who “indicated he was suicidal and armed with a gun.”
According to the police department, the first officer on scene tried to de-escalate the situation by speaking with the man, though he didn’t comply and concealed his hands during parts of the encounter.
“He repeatedly claimed to be armed, and then at one point, suddenly pulled his hand from the area of his waistband and raised it in a hostile manner, seemingly to simulate drawing a firearm on another police officer on scene,” a release from the department reads.
In response, police said, the officer fired his gun and struck the man several times. However, while police tried to place him in handcuffs, the man continued to resist.
The man was taken to the hospital, where he underwent emergency surgery, the police department announced. However, he later suffered complications and died from his injuries.
Police said that the involved officer was placed on administrative leave. Investigators confirmed that they didn’t find a weapon at the scene.
No officers were injured in the incident.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement will conduct an independent investigation of the shooting.