Sarasota officer shoots man with knife after he tried to take a purse at Publix, police say

A Sarasota police officer shot a robbery suspect armed with a knife in a hotel parking lot on Tuesday morning, the police department said in a news release.

The incident began just after 10 a.m. Tuesday, when police were called to a robbery outside of a Publix grocery store at 501 N. Beneva Road in Sarasota.

An 83-year-old woman reported that a man approached her after she unloaded her groceries into her car and attempted to take her purse off of her shoulder.

As the woman struggled with the man, he threatened her with a shiny object in his hand, police said.

The altercation drew the attention of another man in the Publix parking lot. He approached and tried to help the woman.

As the suspect fled the parking lot, the witness followed, filming the suspect on his phone while also calling 911, police said.

The suspect, still holding a knife, cut through a McDonald’s parking lot and crossed Fruitville Road before he was confronted by a Sarasota police officer between two parked cars in the parking lot of Homewood Suites at 3470 Fruitville Road.

The officer drew his gun and pointed it at the suspect while ordering him to the ground several times, the news release said.

Instead, the suspect allegedly came toward the officer with the knife. After another attempt to order the suspect to the ground failed and the suspect continued to advance, the police department said, the officer fired at him.

The suspect, who was identified only as a 71-year-old Sarasota man, was taken to Sarasota Memorial Hospital, where he was in stable condition on Tuesday evening.

He faces charges of aggravated assault with a weapon without intent to kill and armed robbery, the police department said.

The officer was not harmed and has been placed on customary paid administrative leave while the Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigates the shooting.

More details about the shooting and the officer’s body camera footage will be released at a press conference on Wednesday, the police department said.

This story was originally published November 15, 2022 at 7:39 PM.