A Boynton Beach Police Department investigation that recently concluded cleared four officers who fatally shot a machete-wielding man.
Officers Sunil Surajbally, Brittany Jones, Amanda Eichorst and Thomas Winkles followed department rules when they shot Edenson Jules on April 5, 2025, after the 31-year-old brandished a machete and charged at them, an Internal Affairs investigation released in August found.
Jules' father had called police to Intracoastal Park, on Federal Highway south of Gateway Boulevard, when his son threatened him with a machete, investigators said. He told police Jules may have been on drugs.
Surajbally was the first officer to arrive at the park. Before he could exit his patrol car, Jules came up to him and reportedly demanded
that the officer shoot him.
Then, the other three officers, plus Officer Frantzsie Saget, pulled up, according to the report. They exited their cars, surrounded Jules and yelled, "Get on the ground," "Drop it," "Put down the blade" and, simply, "Stop!"
Jones drew her Taser and aimed it at Jules. Surajbelly radioed for someone with either a sponge grenade launcher or similar nonlethal weapon, investigators said.
Jules reportedly ignored officers' commands, yelling "Shoot! Why don't you shoot?" and "I want to die."
The standoff lasted 96 seconds before Jules reportedly squatted down, scraped his machete on the asphalt, came back up and charged at the officers, who unloaded 14 rounds, nine of which hit him. Saget is not listed as one of those officers who fired.
The officers attempted "lifesaving measures," investigators said, before city paramedics arrived and drove Jules to Delray Medical Center, where doctors pronounced him dead.
The four officers were put on nondisciplinary administrative leave as the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office investigated the shooting at the Police Department's request, in addition to the department's internal investigation.
FDLE cleared the officers. State Attorney Alexcia Cox's office sent Boynton Beach Police Chief Joseph DeGiulio a memo on May 26 informing him the officers would not be charged with any crime, nor findings presented to a grand jury.
"The use of deadly force by Boynton Beach Police Officers Eichorst, Jones, Surajbally, and Winkles was objectively reasonable under the circumstances, and their actions were legally justified," the memo said.
Email reporter Chris Persaud at cpersaud@pbpost.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Boynton officers cleared in fatal shooting of machete-wielding man
