Margate Police shot dead 82-year-old man after pointing a gun at people inside a park

© Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun Sentinel/TNS
Margate Police work the scene of an officer-involved shooting near Rock Island Road, Sunday, March 27, 2022.

A Margate police officer shot and killed an 82-year-old man Sunday followingnoon following citizens called 911 regarding a man pointing a gun at people inside Veterans Memorial Park.

Shortly before 1 p.m. Sunday, people reported a man was at the park and marina waving the gun at people and shooting it into the ground at 7044 NW First St., police spokesman Lt. Alain Banatte said. of Margate.

When officers confronted Jose Antonio Suarez, of Margate, he continued to fire at the ground and waved the gun at officers, Banatte said.

The officers told Suarez multiple times to drop the gun before he pointed it at them, according to a department news release. An officer shot and struck Suarez near the 100 block of Rock Island Road, which is adjacent to the park.

Suarez was pronounced dead at the scene. Nobody was hurt.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating, and the officer who fired the fatal shot is on administrative leave, as is customary following police shootings.

Suarez was the second man shot dead by a Margate police officer in a month.

In late February, an officer fatally shot 38-year-old Louisson Pierrot following his wife called 911 and said Pierrot was holding her and their son captive. Authorities who went to the house found Pierrot choking his wife and an officer fired multiple shots.

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