Chief: Broward murder suspect refusing to surrender says, ‘You’ll have to kill me,’ before deputies do

Jacksonville Sheriff's Office deputies and Clay County Sheriff's Office deputies responded to a shopping mall where a Broward Sheriff's Office murder suspect died on Friday night in Orange Park. (News 4 Jax image for Local 10 News)

BROWARD COUNTY, Fla. – A Broward County murder suspect died during a deputy-involved shooting in northeastern Florida that was under investigation on Saturday, according to law enforcement.

Detectives had been tracking the Broward murder suspect before a tactical unit was involved in the fatal Friday night shooting in Clay County, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.

The Broward Sheriff’s Office had contacted JSO about a week ago to ask for help with a murder case that involved a search warrant and an arrest warrant, according to JSO’s Chief of Investigations Alan Parker.

“I’m not getting out! You are going to have to shoot me; you will have to kill me,” the suspect said before deputies shot him on Friday night in Clay County’s town of Orange Park, according to Parker.

From the driver’s seat of a dark sedan, the murder suspect raised a handgun and pointed it at one of the JSO deputies in the parking lot of the Village Shopping Center along Blanding Boulevard, according to Parker.

“An officer is not required to let someone shoot at them before they use deadly force,” Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters said while standing near Clay County Sheriff Michelle Cook and Parker during a news conference.

The search warrant — before a judge issued the arrest warrant on Friday — rendered two firearms, so a group of JSO deputies with special weapons and tactical training responded, and two of them fired their weapons, according to Parker.

“They pulled him out of the vehicle when it was safe to do so,” Parker said. “They began rendering aid. He did not survive his injuries.”

Parker said the two deputies were on administrative leave pending the results of the investigation. BSO did not release the identity of the suspect or the murder case and JSO did not release the identities of the deputies involved before this story was published.

Detectives were asking anyone with information about the case to call Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-8477.

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The Emmy Award-winning journalist joined the Local 10 News team in 2013. She wrote for the Miami Herald for more than 9 years and won a Green Eyeshade Award.