MARGATE, Fla. — A Margate police officer shot and killed an 82-year-old man Sunday afternoon after citizens called 911 about a man who was pointing a gun at people inside Veterans Memorial Park.
Shortly before 1 p.m. Sunday, people reported that a man was in the park and marina waving the gun at people and firing it into the ground at 7044 NW First St., said Lt. Alain Banatte, a spokesperson for Margate Police.
When officers confronted Jose Antonio Suarez, of Margate, he continued to shoot into the ground and waved the gun at the officers, Banatte said.
Officers told Suarez multiple times to drop the weapon before he pointed it at them, according to a news release from the department. One officer fired and hit Suarez near the 100 block of Rock Island Road, which is adjacent to the park.
Suarez was pronounced dead at the scene. No one was injured.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating, and the officer who fired the fatal shot is on administrative leave, as is customary after police shootings.
Suarez was the second man who was shot and killed by a Margate police officer in a month.
In late February, an officer fatally shot Louisson Pierrot, 38, after his wife called 911 and said Pierrot was holding her and her child captive. Authorities who went to the home found Pierrot choking his wife, and an officer fired multiple shots.
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