LAUDERHILL, Fla. (WSVN) – Police have released body camera footage of the moment an officer said he was forced to shoot a knife-wielding woman at a Lauderhill apartment complex.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating an officer-involved shooting that occurred Friday afternoon along the 4000 block of 16th Avenue Northwest.
In the video, an officer can be heard yelling at the woman to put down the knife she was holding.
“Put it down, ma’am. Put it down now! I hear the officer say, ‘Put it down, ma’am. Put it down now!’
The officer fired his weapon and the woman, later identified as 28-year-old Monique Scott, fell to the ground in the grass.
Paramedics took her to Broward Health Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.
Her husband, Dr. Elius Hauleder, was at work at the time of the shooting. He has questions about what happened.
“I heard she called 911, and the police came and shot her twice in the hand here with a knife,” he said, fighting back tears. “How would people kill her like that? You could shoot her in the leg if you could. I don’t know the law.”
Lauderhill police detectives said officers responded to a call in the neighborhood and investigated. The caller gave his name and location, but the call hung up.
Officials said officers knocked on the front door of Scott’s apartment, but no one answered.
Investigators say the officer then did not stop Scott from walking near the police unit with a knife in his hand.
“There was a woman with a knife in her hand,” an officer can be heard saying on the body camera video.
Mr Howlerder said his wife of three years had been suffering from serious mental health issues.
Lauderhill Police Lt. Antonio Gonzalez told 7News the officer was under duress and police wanted to release the video to increase transparency.
“The use of deadly force is authorized whenever a police officer is confronted and can reasonably believe that his or her life or the life of another person is in immediate danger, and that is what happened today.” Gonzalez said.
However, her husband does not agree. He believes it didn’t have to end this way.
“I don’t feel well. I’ve lost everything,” Howleder said.
FDLE is leading the investigation into the shooting.
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