BRADENTON, Fla. -- A Manatee County Sheriff's deputy shot and killed a man Thursday after they say a man charged them while waving a samurai sword.
It happened around 8 a.m. in the 3200 block of 58th Avenue East in Bradenton.
Deputys worked into the evening, continuing to block a portion of 58th Avenue East, as they gathered evidence and worked to figure out what caused deputies to open fire on Terry Sellars, Jr.
"He was a darling kid I loved," says Sellars aunt, Sabrina Yawn, as she choked back tears. "He was a beautiful person on the inside and out. He just was never given a real chance. It seem like whenever he would take a few steps forward something would happen to bring him back."
"The individual, the son, bolted out the front door and charged at one of our deputies,” explained Manatee County Sheriff Brad Steube. The deputy in backing up fired several shots at the son and the son is deceased."
According to a law enforcement report, deputies were responding to a domestic dispute between sellers and his mother, who officials say Sellars beat up and was holding captive. Shortly before the shooting, Sellars’ mother escaped and fled to a nearby Circle K where she contacted law enforcement.
"Basically she said that she was struck with a telephone book twice and she was choked,” Stube said. “She has previous injuries to her neck and back, and her son did this and would not let her out of the house.”
Officials say they went to arrest Sellars after getting his mother’s statement, and that is when the situation took a turn for the worst.
Nearby neighbors say they heard it all unfold.
"I heard the police helicopters outside, so I went outside to see how close they were, and they were right over my pool cage,” said one neighbor. “And then I proceed to hear a gunshot."
Despite the events that lead up the shooting, family members say he will be missed.
And they want answers.
"He was visiting this morning when they left to go to school and now he’s no longer, and I don’t know why,” Yawn said. “I don’t know why."
