ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) -- Authorities say a Florida sheriff's deputy shot and killed a domestic violence suspect who came at his partner with a large knife.
The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office says deputies Tyler Green and Brennen Wede went to an apartment complex for disabled veterans Wednesday night after a woman complained that her boyfriend, William Beavers, was drunk and violent.
Green and Wede went to the couple's apartment. The sheriff's office says in a news release that after the deputies knocked on the door several times, Beavers came out with a knife held over his shoulder and directed at Wede. Authorities say Green told Beavers to drop the knife several times then shot him when he refused.
“The door opened quickly he had the knife in his hand and immediately came out of the unit and said ‘you are going to have to kill me,’” Major David Danzig said. “Those are split second decisions. And, unfortunately, when someone is approaching you with a large knife and you have it up raised like this I don't know any other protocols besides to meet that force.”
An upstairs neighbor of the Beavers deputies said the man was a military veteran going through a tough time.
“Duval Park is a place to help a lot of vets out he just didn't help himself that's all and he had his own set of problems he kept drinking,” the neighor said. “They did the right thing, 100 percent. The guy come out of the house carrying a knife they didn't have a choice, you don't do that.”
The 43-year-old Beavers died at the scene.
An investigation is underway.
