Miami-Dade County

Video shows man fatally shot by North Miami Beach Police while holding woman hostage with machete

North Miami Beach Police officials confirmed the shooting happened in the area of Northeast 168th Street and Northeast 2nd Avenue

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New bodycam footage captured the moment a man who was holding a woman hostage with a machete was shot and killed by police in North Miami Beach earlier this year.

The incident happened back in March on the first floor of an office building in the area of Northeast 168th Street and Northeast 2nd Avenue.

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North Miami Beach Police Chief Harvette Smith said officers responded to the building around 1:30 p.m. after getting a 911 call of a man walking around with a large machete.

When officers arrived at the scene and made contact with the man, he refused officers' commands and ran into the building after officers tased him, Smith said.

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Bodycam footage released Monday showed the moment the man held a woman hostage with the machete pointed at her neck as she pleads for her life.

"She's not doing anything to you, please put her down," a police officer is heard saying. "Let her go. It's okay, man. Put the machete down."

NBC 6's Lorena Inclan has more on what family members of the man involved are saying.

"Just relax, man," the officer added. "We're going to get this worked out and everything is going to be just fine."

After several attempts by officers ordering the man to drop the weapon, he continued to refuse to drop it and officers opened fire, Smith said.

"The machete was pointed at her neck, in an attempt to kill her. At that point, our officers again gave commands for the subject to drop the knife. The subject refused to drop the knife at that point, making my officers result to using deadly force to save a life," Smith said.

Family members identified a man police say held a woman hostage with a machete before he was shot and killed by officers. NBC 6's Kim Wynne reports

The woman was recovered as officers tried to give life-saving measures to the suspect, Smith said.

Further bodycam footage shows police checking the woman for injuries.

The suspect died from his injuries. Family members later identified him as 38-year-old Edridge Alexis.

Edridge Alexis
Family Photo
Edridge Alexis

No officers were injured and the woman was also okay, Smith said.

"He’s a good guy. They can’t tell me he had a machete and tried to cut people throat," said Wilkinson Alexis, the suspect's brother. "Nah, he ain’t like that."

He said his brother struggled with his mental health, and he doesn't believe what police are saying about the incident is true.

"They’re lying. Just be real about (it)... say you killed someone," Wilkinson Alexis said.

Smith said the Florida Department of Law Enforcement will investigate the shooting, which is standard practice.

No other information has been released.

Check back with NBC 6 for updates.

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