A Hollywood, Florida, man was shot to death by police after a six-hour standoff in which he set his house on fire and confronted SWAT officers with a firearm.
The man, shot to death in the confrontation has been identified by Hollywood Police as Leu Freycinet, 52.
The incident started with a phone call to a local TV station.
“He stated he possibly had weapons and, if police didn’t respond, ‘really bad things are going to happen,’” Hollywood Police Information Officer Christian Lata told the Miami Herald.
Freycinet called back a few minutes later saying he had a shotgun.
Hollywood police officers including the SWAT team rolled out to the reported address. When the police arrived, around 3:30 a.m. on Aug. 8, they heard gunshots from inside the residence.
Police evacuated the neighborhood, directing residents to a nearby church. Meanwhile police negotiators tried to reason with the gunman inside the house.
Alain Reinaldo, 45, lived close to the barricaded house. “The SWAT Team knocked on the door and said everybody has to leave because of an active shooter in the neighborhood,” he told the Sun-Sentinel. “It was crazy.”
Reinaldo said the police had been called to the residence in question several times in the past.
Hollywood police crisis negotiators spent several hours trying to convince Freycinet to surrender peacefully.
Around 9 a.m. it became clear that a peaceful resolution was not on the cards.
A Forced Confrontation for Police
Police looking into the house through the windows saw Freycinet set fire to a paper bag shortly after 9 a.m. He then let the fire spread throughout the house.
“At some point, the officers observed the individual lighting a paper bag on fire inside the residence intentionally lightning the house on fire,” said Miranda Grossman, another Hollywood Police Department information officer.
Smoke began billowing out of the house. The police and fire department units on the scene prepared for some kind of action.
About half an hour after the fire started, Freycinet came to the door of his house.
When the gun-wielding fugitive came out the front door with his gun in his hands, the police had only one option.
“That subject then exited the home with a firearm and confronted officers,” Grossman said. “Officers were then forced to fire. The subject subsequently died on scene.”
“This individual endangered the lives of the residents around this area and the police department is thankful that no other lives were lost,” Grossman concluded.
