POMPANO BEACH, Fla. — A shooting involving members of the Broward Sheriff’s Office occurred on Tuesday afternoon.
It happened along the 2300 block of Bay Drive in Pompano Beach shortly before 1:30 p.m.
6 p.m. report:
According to BSO, deputies responded to the scene after receiving reports about a suspicious incident.
After arriving, authorities said the deputies encountered a person who was armed, and that person barricaded himself inside a home.
Deputies said they deployed a drone, which the man shot at, and after they sent in another drone and a dog, the man also attacked the dog.
“We deployed our K-9 into the environment to try to establish whether or not he was alive so we could render aid and things of that nature,” said Broward County Sheriff Gregory Tony. “At that time, the dog came into contact with him and he started attacking the dog. He struck the dog with the drone.”
After that, authorities said a SWAT team moved in and opened fire on the man, who was later pronounced dead.
Authorities have since identified the man as 38-year-old Esterlin Appolon.
Deputies said the K-9 involved in the incident is expected to be fine, but was taken to an animal hospital to have X-rays taken.
“This is one of those things tragically where from my experience having been a SWAT operator and seeing what happened here, he chose to die by law enforcement,” Tony said.
Thursday noon report
Neighbors told Local 10 News that they were concerned because they walk their dogs in the area of where the shooting occurred.
“When I heard that (it) scared me,” said Chris, who lives nearby. “I was walking and noticed a man disheveled and (it) changed my walking routine.”
A man named Sean, who works in the area, told Local 10 News that he’s never seen anything like what happened in that neighborhood.
“Broward Sheriff’s Officers came here fast -- like 20 cars at once. They barricaded every road, and in like five minutes, they weren’t letting anybody through,” he said.
No other deputies were injured, authorities said.
BSO officials said the early parts of their investigation revealed that Appolon was known to have a criminal history and had past felony convictions.
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