Man with knife shot, killed by Sarasota deputy while being evicted, sheriff’s office says
.jpg "Sarasota deputies shot and killed a 58-year-old squatter while trying to evict him from an Apartment.")
A 58-year-old man was shot and killed by a Sarasota sheriff’s deputy while he was being evicted from an apartment, a spokeswoman for the Sarasota County Sheriff Department said at a press conference Friday.
The shooting happened in the 700 block of Palm Avenue on around 9 a.m. Friday.
Three deputies and an attorney of the apartment complex entered the man’s apartment with a key, sheriff’s spokeswoman Kaitlyn Perez said.
When they went into the unit, she said, the man armed himself with a knife and moved toward the officers.
“They made verbal commands in an attempt to make the subject de-escalate,” Perez said. “Again, he did not. He advanced toward our deputies.”
“We had three deputies there, and one of our deputies fired her weapon.”
The shot killed the man, who has yet to be identified until authorities can find his next of kin.
Perez said he had lived in the apartment for 11 years, but had been squatting in the apartment since September when his roommate, the person listed on the lease, died.
This story will update as more information is released.
This story was originally published April 1, 2022 at 1:31 PM.
