SWAT Standoff At Fort Lauderdale Neighborhood Comes To An End After Armed Individual Taken Into Custody
FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) – A police standoff with an armed individual ended just before noon on Wednesday in a Sistrunk neighborhood of Fort Lauderdale.
The Fort Lauderdale SWAT team was on the scene at NW 7th Street and 11th Avenue, responding to a call that a man had a gun and was pointing it at people as they drove by.
"We're not going away," the SWAT team said on a loud speaker, "we'll be here as long as you want to be here."
Negotiators spoke to him, who police identified as 25-year-old Merville Vaughn Jr.
People in the neighborhood pleaded for him to turn himself in.
"Hey bro, put your hands up, please," yelled on man. "Bro put your hands up bro, please."
Police told CBS4 he was wearing a bullet proof vest that could stop a rifle blast and had an AK-47 in the car.
"I didn't know what he was doing," said Tony Dark. "I tried to approach him a little bit, like I hopped off my (skate)board and was like, 'Yo, is everything OK?' He had the vest on it looked really weird."
Another neighbor said he appeared to live in a Mustang for about a month now and that he had family problems. He also said he's seen him with a gun before.
"I seen him a couple days ago with a pistol. I tried to keep my distance from people like that," said Ymari Bowdell. "He was carrying it in his lap, walking back and forth down the sidewalk."
The standoff ended when officers say he got up.
"During the negotiations the subject began to walk away from negotiators and SWAT officers," explained Asst. Fort Lauderdale Police Chief Frank Sousa. "SWAT team members deployed a 40 millimeter less lethal projectile at the subject which was able to take him down and allow officers to approach him and take him into custody without further incident or injury."
That 40-millimeter projectile is known to most of us as a rubber bullet. It's the same kind that was used during protests in Fort Lauderdale.
"There's been a lot of contention throughout the country of police use of less lethal 40 millimeter," Asst. Chief Sousa said. "Today was a good example of how a less lethal option saves lives. Because without that option today, we could have had a much different outcome here today."
Vaughn is in the Broward County Jail charged with three counts of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, one count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, carrying a concealed firearm, open carry of a firearm, reckless display of a fire arm and resisting arrest with out violence.