Report: PSL police shoot, kill man armed with 'explosive device'

PORT ST. LUCIE — A man carrying an explosive device was shot dead by police Saturday afternoon as officers responded to a domestic violence report at a home in the city's western reaches, police said.

In a Facebook post Saturday evening, Port St. Lucie police said they went to a home in the 600 block of Northwest Marion Avenue at about 3:08 p.m. for an "in progress domestic violence incident."

Inside the home were a man, a woman, and an unspecified number of children, the post said. The man was "armed with an explosive device, and at some point, an officer involved shooting occurred," police said.

The man was pronounced dead shortly thereafter, the Facebook post said. No information about the nature of the device was provided.

Television reports Sunday, citing police officials, said the man was armed with a lighter and open propane tank, and that his wife had been restrained with zip ties. Their two small children were upstairs, calling for their mother, reports said.

The man said he was going to "do something," and officers responded by shooting him, television reports said. The man's wife and their two children were safe Sunday, police told television reporters.

As is usual in officer-involved shootings, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement has taken over the investigation. Police disclosed no further information about the shooting Saturday.

Traffic at Northwest Bayshore Boulevard and Northwest Marion Avenue was briefly closed to traffic during the incident. The area is just east of Florida's Turnpike and north of Southwest Prima Vista Boulevard.

There was no threat to the community, police said.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Report: PSL police shoot, kill man armed with 'explosive device'