Palm Beach County has recorded five deputy-involved shootings since the start of 2026, and all five were fatal. The most recent occurred Tuesday and killed a 54-year-old man, according to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the State Attorney’s Office and its Violent Crimes Division are investigating the Tuesday shooting. The deputy involved has been placed on administrative leave, which the sheriff’s office said is standard after such shootings. Authorities have not released details about what led up to the shooting.
Earlier cases this year
The first case came Feb. 22, when U.S. Secret Service agents and a sheriff’s deputy shot and killed 21-year-old Austin Tucker Martin near Mar-a-Lago. Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said Martin breached the inner security perimeter while armed. On Feb. 25, a deputy fatally shot 44-year-old Charles Curtis McCloud Jr. in Pahokee after he was accused of killing two men and injuring a third, according to the sheriff’s office.
Two more deadly shootings followed later in the year. On Aug. 6, two deputies killed an 18-year-old who was attacking his father with a butcher knife in unincorporated West Palm Beach. On Sept. 16, a deputy shot 32-year-old Rex Magann outside a South Palm Beach fire station after he allegedly attacked her and tried to take her firearm.
The shootings come as law enforcement agencies face growing scrutiny over use-of-force incidents and how they handle investigations after fatal encounters.
