Four police officers placed on leave after shooting, killing man wielding machete (Video)

On April 7, Florida’s Boynton Beach Police Department (BBPD) announced that their officers responded to a report of a domestic dispute between a father and his adult son around 10:45 a.m. on Saturday, April 5, near the 600 block of Northeast 20th Lane in Boynton Beach. Upon their arrival, officers encountered 31-year-old Edenson Jules of Boynton Beach – who was involved in the dispute at Intracoastal Park – and he was armed with a machete.

Officers attempted to de-escalate the situation and gave verbal commands for the him to drop his weapon. The man ignored the officers’ commands and stated, “Shoot, why you don’t want to shoot?” before charging the officers with the machete.

As a result, the officers discharged their firearms, striking the man as he approached them with his machete. Multiple officers on-scene began performing life-saving measures on the man. The Boynton Beach Fire Rescue Department transported him to Delray Medical Center, where Edenson Jules later died.

You can view the police’s dashcam video of the encounter below.

CBS-12 News in South Florida asked former West Palm Beach Deputy Police Chief Rick Morris for his thoughts on the officers’ response.

“It’s pretty clear that their training is pretty solid,” Morris said. “He kept on coming with a machete. That’s lethal. You got to stop lethal with lethal. That machete is very very dangerous and taser is a secondary force weapon and that weapon has got to be met with the amount of force necessary to stop them from happening. You may not be able to stop them with a taser.”

It is the current policy of the Boynton Beach Police Department to request the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate all officer involved shootings and in-custody deaths. The investigation is active.

Per BBPD policy, four officers have been placed on non-disciplinary administrative leave until the investigation is complete. The officers involved have been identified as follows: Officer Sunil Surajbally, Officer Brittany Jones, Officer Amanda Eichorst and Officer Thomas Winkles.

None of the police officers involved in the altercation were harmed. WPEC also covered the video in their reporting. See below

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(Source: Boynton Beach Police Department)

Posted by Richard Webster, Ace News Today
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