Riviera officer fires gun after traffic stop; three people held

No one injured in roadway incident in high-traffic area.

RIVIERA BEACH — A Riviera Beach police officer fired his gun Thursday morning during an incident at West 13th Street and President Barack Obama Highway, city police said.

No one was injured in the incident. Three people — two males and a female — have been taken into custody, police said.

The two officers involved in the incident — only one fired a gun — are on paid administrative leave, per department protocol. The city had not released either officer’s name as of Thursday afternoon.

City police spokeswoman Rose Anne Brown said an officer tried to pull over a minivan shortly after 9:30 a.m. Thursday near the intersection of Avenue E and West 13th Street, but the driver refused to stop. Authorities haven’t said what violation prompted the stop, though Brown described it as “routine.”

The three people bailed near 13th and President Barack Obama Highway. Authorities immediately took the female into custody. The two males ran south and tried to jump over a fence. One dropped a gun as he tried to jump over it, police said.

He stopped, turned around and grabbed the gun, according to Brown.

That’s when the officer fired, Brown said. The officer did so “in an abundance of caution to preserve his life and the life of any other member of the public who could have been affected,” she said.

The males ran, but officers eventually caught them and took them into custody. They had been hiding in another vehicle at a nearby mechanic shop.

The incident happened in a highly trafficked area — by both pedestrians and vehicles.

Police found a loaded magazine on the ground near where the shooting took place. It had about 30 rounds in it, Brown said. Officers searched Thursday for the gun.