Florida investigators are reviewing a Thursday morning shooting after a suspicious-person call.
OAKLAND PARK, Fla. — A Broward Sheriff’s Office deputy shot and killed a man armed with a machete Thursday morning after deputies responded to reports of a suspicious person in an Oakland Park neighborhood, authorities said. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is leading the investigation, and the deputies involved were placed on administrative assignment.
The shooting is the latest in a series of police encounters in South Florida now routinely reviewed by outside investigators when an officer uses deadly force. Officials said deputies tried to get the man to drop the weapon before shots were fired. Investigators are still working to pin down the moments leading up to the gunfire, including whether the man threatened anyone besides deputies.
Authorities said the call came in shortly before 7 a.m. near Northeast 35th Court and Northeast Fifth Avenue. Deputies arrived and saw a man walking in the area with a machete, Broward Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Miranda Grossman said. A confrontation unfolded within minutes, shifting to a nearby residential block as deputies tried to contain the situation and keep people away from danger.
Witness David Aldasouki, who said he watched the incident from nearby, described a tense encounter and repeated commands from deputies. “He had a machete. He was very angry,” Aldasouki said. He said deputies told the man to drop the weapon “many times,” but the man did not comply. Aldasouki said the man moved toward deputies and the gunfire started soon after.
Officials said the man was struck during the encounter and was taken by Oakland Park Fire Rescue to a local hospital, where he later died. Authorities have not released the man’s name. A woman who identified herself as his mother, Michelle McGauley, said the man was her 35-year-old son. She said relatives rushed to the area after hearing he had been shot and then tried to get information from the hospital.
McGauley said family members were told her son had been shot in the arm, but she said they were hearing conflicting accounts about how many rounds were fired and why deputies did not use a less-lethal option. “They could have tased him,” she said. “They could have tased him instead of using a gun.” Authorities have not said how many shots were fired, and they have not described what less-lethal tools were available or whether they were used.
Grossman said deputies made contact with the man while responding to the suspicious-person call, and the situation escalated when the man attacked deputies with the machete. Investigators are still reviewing what “attacked” means in this case, she said, including whether the man lunged at deputies or moved in another way that posed an immediate threat. She also said investigators are working to determine whether the man was threatening anyone else in the neighborhood before deputies arrived.
Video from a television helicopter showed what appeared to be a machete lying at a taped-off scene near Northeast 38th Street and Northeast Fifth Avenue. The area includes single-family homes and narrow neighborhood streets, and deputies blocked traffic as crime scene investigators worked around the morning commute. Residents gathered at a distance, watching investigators and patrol vehicles move in and out of the perimeter.
Authorities said none of the deputies were injured. While officials did not specify how many deputies fired, they said multiple deputies were involved in the response. The sheriff’s office placed the deputies who discharged their firearms on administrative assignment, a standard step meant to separate involved employees from daily operations while investigators review evidence and statements.
Florida Department of Law Enforcement agents will take the lead on the investigation because deputies fired their weapons, authorities said. FDLE typically collects evidence, interviews involved officers and witnesses, and reviews recordings, including body-worn camera video if available, before submitting findings to prosecutors for review. The sheriff’s office said its homicide and crime scene units were also on scene to assist with evidence collection and the initial response.
Investigators are expected to examine dispatch logs, radio traffic, and any available surveillance video from nearby homes or businesses. They will also review the timeline of the call, including how quickly deputies arrived and how long the encounter lasted. Officials have not said whether the man was the subject of earlier calls that morning or whether deputies knew him before the confrontation.
The sheriff’s office did not immediately release information about the man’s background, whether he lived nearby, or whether he had any known history with law enforcement. Authorities also did not say whether anyone called 911 to report a direct threat, or if the call was based on sightings of a person carrying a machete. Those details are among the questions investigators said they are still trying to answer.
In Oakland Park, a city just north of Fort Lauderdale, residents have seen heightened attention to law-enforcement shootings in recent years, as community members and families increasingly ask for body-camera footage and clearer public timelines after fatal incidents. The early-morning nature of Thursday’s response meant some neighbors were leaving for work or waking up to the sound of sirens and helicopters, adding to the sense of disruption and uncertainty.
Officials said FDLE’s review will continue in the coming days as agents gather evidence and conduct interviews. The sheriff’s office has not announced a date for releasing body-camera video, and officials did not say how long the investigation may take. As is common in officer-involved shootings, investigators will assemble a case file that can be reviewed by prosecutors to determine whether the use of deadly force was legally justified.
For now, the sheriff’s office says the case remains active and that more information will be released as it becomes available. The neighborhood around Northeast Fifth Avenue remained partially restricted Thursday as detectives processed the scene and residents waited for updates about what happened and why.
Author note: Last updated March 5, 2026.