Fort Lauderdale

Man held family member at gunpoint before police shot and killed him: Authorities

Family members told dispatchers that Jaylen Moore was having a mental breakdown.

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911 calls reveal the calls for help from the family of a man, who was going through a mental health crisis before he was shot and killed by police officers in Fort Lauderdale.

Fort Lauderdale Police released new details and 911 calls Thursday that show what happened moments before officers shot and killed 21-year-old Jaylen Moore on Wednesday morning.

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"I need the paramedics 'cause he’s gonna need to go to a facility or somewhere for 72-hour observation," a family member tells a dispatcher in one of the first phone calls from inside a home on Southwest 25th Avenue.

The family member told dispatchers that Moore was having a mental breakdown. He called back again after realizing he had a gun.

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A man who was shot by police during an armed confrontation in a Fort Lauderdale neighborhood Wednesday morning has died, officials said. NBC6's Kim Wynne reports

"When the paramedics came, and we went to tell him to come out to see the paramedic, he come pulling a freaking gun, cocking the handle," he says.

A second family member also called 911.

"He has a gun, and there’s kids in the house," she says. "The paramedics just came here, but they left."

The caller also tells her sister and her baby were inside the house.

Police said they got the call around 10:45 a.m. Wednesday. When officers got there, Moore came outside holding a family member at gunpoint, investigators said.

Moore was given verbal commands to put the firearm down, police said, and he did not comply.

Three officers shot him, police said. Moore was then rushed to the hospital, where he later died.

"He has a firearm, he is not complying with demands to drop that and endangering officers and the community," Fort Lauderdale Police Det. Ali Adamson said. "In this set of circumstances it was a very unfortunate outcome and that is not lost on us."

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement will investigate the incident, which is standard practice in police shootings.

The officers involved are on paid administrative leave.

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