By Shira Moolten
Source South Florida Sun-Sentinel
It was a busy evening at the Publix at Military Crossing in Greenacres when a 21-year-old man waved a gun around and fired it three times into the air, according to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s office.
The man is now in critical condition after deputies shot him in the parking lot.
The Sheriff’s Office says it prevented a possible “active shooter” situation in the grocery store. The deputy is on paid administrative leave, per protocol, while the Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigates.
“There were tons of people,” said Teri Barbera, the public information officer for the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office. “Tons and tons and tons of people.”
Deputies had received a call about a suspicious person with a firearm about 6 p.m. Monday. The man had fired the gun while deputies were still on their way to the scene. When they arrived to confront him, he put the gun to his head and took it down multiple times, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
“Just because he hadn’t hit anybody doesn’t mean he’s not trying,” Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said at a news conference Monday night. “So now we’re dealing with an active shooter.”
The deputies spoke with the man for 20 minutes, trying to get him to put the gun down, Bradshaw said, but they were unsuccessful. The man then walked towards the store, at which point deputies closed in on him.
“We were not going to let that happen,” Bradshaw said. “All that does is subject innocent people to a guy who’s got a firearm.”
When the man waved the gun in a “threatening manner” at the deputies, one of them shot him. He was taken to the hospital where he remains in critical condition.
Publix shoppers had to wait in the parking lot while the Sheriff’s Office finished its investigation, Barbera said.
The Sheriff’s Office did not release the deputy’s identity, citing Marsy’s law. The office has also kept the identity of the 21-year-old man private while it notifies next of kin.
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