Officers shot and killed a man who they say was agitated and suicidal and had threatened "to kill a cop" Sunday in Hollywood, police said.
The incident happened shortly after 4 p.m., when the Broward Sheriff's Office received a call that a suicidal, armed man was in a parking lot at a Winn Dixie in Dania Beach. The caller said the man had threatened "to kill a cop," police said.
When officers responded, the man, later identified as 42-year-old James Purdue, had left, but they quickly caught up to him near the Dania Beach pier. Deputies tried to talk Purdue into surrendering peacefully, but he refused and got into his truck and headed south on A1A.
After he stopped at the Dania Beach Grill and again refused to surrender, Purdue drove to Evans St. in Hollywood, where he got out of his truck and began to walk toward deputies.
Police say Purdue had his hands at his side and was agitated and using profanity. When he told police they were going to have to shoot him and he reached behind his back, a deputy and a sergeant, believing Purdue was reaching for a gun, opened fire.
Purdue was killed at the scene.
"This is a person who was suicidal, he wanted to kill himself and he decided to have a deputy do it," said Broward Sheriff's Office spokesperson Dani Moschella.
The shooting is being investigated and the officers, Dep. Ray Herrera and Sgt. Tom McPartland, were placed on routine administrative leave.
