A 58-year-old man was shot and killed Friday morning after approaching deputies with a knife during an eviction, deputies say.
The sheriff's office said the person on the lease of the apartment died in September. The 58-year-old lived with that person, but his name was not on the lease and he continued to live there after his roommate's death. "In many ways, he was squatting," Kaitlyn Perez, a spokesperson for the sheriff's office said.
The apartment complex tried to handle things themselves, and eventually handed things over to the sheriff's office. Deputies posted an eviction notice Thursday at the minimum and may have spoken with the man as well. The notice gave the man 24 hours to leave or otherwise he would be physically removed from the premises.
He did not leave and Friday morning three deputies entered the apartment to make contact with him. At that point, the sheriff's office says the man armed himself with a knife and moved toward the deputies. At that time one of the deputies fired her weapon. The other deputies used verbal commands to try to de-escalate the situation, the sheriff's office said.
The man who was shot has not been identified, as next of kin hasn't been notified yet.
The incident happened in the city of Sarasota, but because Sarasota deputies were involved and they have a dedicated officer-involved shooting investigations team, the sheriff's office is leading the investigation.
"Any time you serve civil process paperwork it can be a highly emotionally charged interaction and that's why there were three deputies there," Perez said.
Perez said the man had been living there for 11 years, but it is not yet known what his relationship to the previous tenant was.
No deputies were injured in the incident.
