April 16, 2021- 9:30 p.m.
Before Jeffrey Guy Sacks was shot and killed by a Broward sheriff’s deputy in North Lauderdale, family members say the man plagued by mental illness had been recently taken off an experimental drug.
After bouncing in and out of treatment programs and the streets for a decade, he asked his father for money to find a place to live two weeks ago. Then he went silent.
On Friday night, police said, Sacks, 26, was seen walking into a Ross Dress for Less store in the 7300 block of West McNab Road with a knife. Soon after, people called 911, saying Sacks had cut himself inside the store.
When a deputy arrived, Sacks came outside and threatened himself and the deputy, according to Sheriff Gregory Tony, who went to the Arena Shops plaza after the shooting.
Tony said the deputy told the man to drop the knife and backed away. Instead, Sacks ran toward the deputy and he was shot, Tony said. Sacks was taken to Broward Health Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale, where he died.
Michael Sacks, Sack’s uncle, said police told him the news. A South Florida lawyer by trade, Sacks said he is trying to remain objective about his nephew’s death and the possibility that his history of mental illness and talks about suicide may have motivated him to intentionally try to get shot.
He said that when his nephew was 15, he stood outside his home and waved a BB gun around and attracted the attention of police. He said Sacks might have nearly been killed were it not for his sister jumping in front of him and telling police that he was mentally ill.
But not having seen any body camera or video evidence for Thursday’s shooting, he said he is torn about the deputy’s actions.
