Deputies with the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office shot and killed an unarmed man accused of stealing cash from a pizza delivery driver on Tuesday.
Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said the man, whose name has not yet been released, led deputies on a car chase that began in Lake Park before crashing and fleeing on foot. Bradshaw said deputies struck the man three times was nonlethal rounds but the rounds had no effect.
He said the man yelled to deputies "You're going to have to kill me" several times throughout the chase before raising his hands — empty, but for a shirt wrapped around his palm — into a "shooting position." Deputies fired, killing him.
Bradshaw convened a news conference
in the wake of the shooting near Jog and Woolbright roads in suburban Boynton Beach, where the chase ended, and read through a list of prior crimes the man was accused of.
They include carjacking, robbery, kidnapping, assault, possession of drugs, trespass, hit-and-run, disorderly conduct and sale of cocaine, none of which is punishable by death but all of which, Bradshaw said, suggested "he's obviously a serious bad guy."
"The deputies did everything they could to take this guy into custody with less than lethal force, but he decided that he's going to go the hard way, and he did," Bradshaw said.
He didn't say whether deputies activated their body-worn cameras, nor when any such footage would be released.
Hannah Phillips covers public safety and criminal justice at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at hphillips@pbpost.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Deputy kills man accused of robbing pizza delivery driver after chase
