Cell phone video shows a man surrounded by police wielding a machete while holding a woman hostage before being shot.
Elridge Alexis was shot by officers Thursday afternoon before 2 p.m. at 16855 NE 2nd Ave. at a North Miami Beach office building less than one mile east of the Golden Gates interchange, according to Local 10.
Police responded to a call about a man holding a large knife in the street.
The 38-year-old suspect was identified by family after he was shot by police, who say they saved the woman’s life. (RELATED: Naked Machete-Wielding Woman Shuts Down Michigan Highway: Police)
Police attempted to defuse the situation, trying to tase Alexis before holding him at gunpoint. The taser perturbed the suspect, who ran into the medical building and allegedly held the woman at knifepoint inside.
North Miami Beach Police Chief Harvette Smith said Alexis refused to drop the machete, which was pointed at the woman’s neck, when officers ordered the suspect to do so, according to 6 South Florida.
The video shows a doctor and medical staff members praying as the incident ensues.
“Everyone went into the little small room and we had patients in there and the doctor and the therapist were barricading their bodies through the door,” a staff member said.
Alexis’ family admitted the suspect had mental problems. “They can’t tell me, like, ‘hey, he got a machete, he trying to cut somebody’s throat,’ nah he ain’t like that,” Wilkenson Alexis, the suspect’s brother, told Local 10.
“For him to go inside the building and put the machete on someone’s neck, they have to give me the proof for that. He’s not like that,” an unidentified family member said.
The woman held at knifepoint by Alexis was not injured.
Alexis was no stranger to breaking Miami-Dade law, having recently spent 13 months in jail.