PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — An armed carjacking suspect was shot and killed by Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office deputies Tuesday evening near Lake Worth Beach.
The shooting occurred just after 8 p.m. in the 3800 block of Meed Drive.
Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said that an Uber driver was carjacked and stabbed in Broward County earlier in the day. The victim suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
Authorities were notified that the suspect could be in the Palm Beach County area. PBSO deputies located the vehicle, traveling west on Lake Worth Road, and conducted a traffic stop.
Bradshaw said the suspect got out of the car armed with a knife. Deputies tried to de-escalate the situation and told the suspect to put the knife down, Bradshaw said, but instead the suspect moved toward deputies and was eventually shot.
"It's unfortunate," Bradshaw said. "We have had some incidents over the past 30 days where we have encountered people with knives and guns. We have been able to de-escalate it and talk them down. This was one of the situations where the individual just was not gonna be talked to, even though the deputies tried to put themselves at a distance between them and the suspect."
The sheriff said a resident was able to capture the entire encounter on a cell phone.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the state attorney's office are investigating the deputy-involved shooting.
Both deputies who fired their weapons are now placed on paid administrative leave, which is protocol in this type of situation pending the conclusion of the investigation.
