Overview
- The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office says deputies responding to a welfare check on Wednesday entered a home and found an 18-year-old fighting with his father while holding what appeared to be a five-inch kitchen/ butcher knife.
- A deputy deployed a Taser that officials described as ineffective and another deputy then fired three shots, striking the teen in the torso; he was taken to a hospital and later died.
- The father suffered superficial hand wounds and was also treated at a hospital, and the teen's mother had called police saying her son was acting strangely and may have taken something.
- Both deputies involved have been placed on administrative leave and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement together with the Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office are conducting reviews to determine whether the use of force was lawful.
- Welfare checks often involve mental-health or substance concerns and can escalate quickly when weapons are present, so investigators will review body-worn camera footage, forensic tests of the knife, and medical and toxicology reports to clarify what happened and why.