Sheriff: Deputies Fatally Shot Army Veteran Joshua Senfeld After a 90-Minute Negotiation at a Plaza Near Boca Raton

Palm Beach County sheriff's deputies fatally shot a 30-year-old man at a shopping plaza near Boca Raton late Wednesday, and the Sheriff's Office on Thursday identified him as Joshua Senfeld, an Army veteran, the Palm Beach Post reported from Sheriff Ric Bradshaw's on-record account. The incident began shortly after 9:30 p.m., when dispatchers received a call from a family member saying Senfeld was talking about taking his own life.

Deputies found Senfeld at the Sandalfoot Square shopping plaza at State Road 7 and Southwest 18th Street, just north of the Broward County line, sitting on the ground outside a vehicle with a gun in his hand, Bradshaw said. Deputies negotiated with Senfeld for more than 90 minutes — including, the sheriff said, an appeal from a deputy who is also a veteran and offered to get him help — before Senfeld stood up and took what Bradshaw described as an aggressive stance with the gun. Bradshaw said the deputies felt they were in jeopardy and fired. Palm Beach County Fire Rescue paramedics declared Senfeld dead at the scene.

Bradshaw did not name the deputies involved. He said they are on administrative leave while the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the State Attorney's Office review the case, and the Sheriff's Office will also conduct an internal investigation. According to the Post, Senfeld had lived in the Boca Raton area before moving to Orlando a few years ago, still had family in Palm Beach County, was a licensed insurance agent and was a graduate of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.

The Post reported that sheriff's deputies have shot and killed five other men this year in Palm Beach County. A WPTV follow-up on the shooting examined how deputies are trained to de-escalate crises — the question now in front of the state reviewers, whose findings have not been released.