Hialeah police shoot and kill man they say was armed and ‘extremely aggressive’

Hialeah police officers shot and killed a man they say was armed Friday morning.

The shooting happened around 7 a.m. in the 500 block of West 53rd Street, said Officer Scarlett Hernandez, a Hialeah Police Department spokeswoman.

Officers went to the house to respond to a “violent dispute,” Hernandez said in a statement.

When they got there, they “encountered an armed male” and shot him, Hernandez said.

Steadman Stahl, the president of the South Florida Police Benevolent Association, the police officers’ union, told the Herald the man had a gun and pointed it at the responding officers, noting he was “extremely aggressive.”

“The uniformed officers had no other choice but to shoot,” Stahl said. “He ignored numerous commands to drop the gun.”

Stahl said three officers were involved.

“No officer relishes having to take a life,” Stahl said.

Police have not identified the man.

As is protocol with all police shootings, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating. The agency declined to comment when reached by the Herald.