A man armed with a knife who threatened to kill himself at a northwest Miami-Dade County auto dealership was shot by an officer who feared for his life, authorities said Thursday.
Officials said David Calderin, 25, came into the dealership at about 10:15 a.m. and threatened suicide. Officers confronted the armed man just outside the showroom, and an officer who feared for his life shot him several times, police said.
The shooting happened at 16800 NW 57th Ave., which is the Maroone Ford auto dealership in northwest Miami-Dade County along the Palmetto Expressway.
A witness said that she heard four gunshots.
John Rivera, president of the Dade County Police Benevolent Association, said it was a justified shooting.
"This is hard, I've been in his shoes," Rivera said. "A lot of things go through your mind -- did you make the right decision, how close did I come to getting hurt or dying?"
Aerial footage showed Fire Rescue personnel putting a man on a stretcher into a helicopter. Calderin, of 20111 NW 42nd Ave. in Miami Gardens, was airlifted to Jackson Memorial Hospital in stable condition.
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Calderin's father told NBC Miami that his son went to the dealership to speak with his girlfriend's father. Her family does not approve of Calderin, so he went to Maroone to tell his girlfriend's father that he loves her and to ask for his blessing, according to Calderin's father.
The couple have been together for a year and a half, he said.
"He was madly in love with her. And he wanted to keep the love going. He would bend over backwards for her," Calderin's father told NBC Miami. "According to her, she loved him but she wouldn’t make any changes because she didn’t want her parents to know."
Calderin's father said a young man who accompanied his son to the dealership Thursday said he and the girlfriend's father hugged and laughed -- but he does not know what happened after that.
Calderin's father said his son has a collection of knives, but he does not know how what he referred to as "this knife thing" fits into Thursday's incident.
"My understanding from the witness that was with him, he’s a good kid, and they were both going to the place together, is that he was walking away and then the other officer says get down to the floor. You’re under arrest," the father said. "And while running away, that’s when he got shot."
