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Lauderhill Man Killed In Police Involved Shooting

LAUDERHILL (CBS4) – A Lauderhill father is in shock and disbelief after police gunned down his son in front of his home.

According to Lauderhill police spokesman Captain Rick Rocco they received a call around 2 a.m. from someone on a cell phone about a disturbance in the 71 hundred block of NW 49th Court.

"The caller described the male who was shot by his clothing and physical description and that he had a knife," said Rocco.

When officers arrived to check out the report, Rocco said they were confronted by 21-year old Cedric Telasco who was wielding a knife.

"You have to approach the scene from a tactical perspective, meaning they can't just put themselves out there in jeopardy. They have to investigate, they have to find out what the reason is for the disturbance, is it domestic related, is it someone who had too much to drink, we don't know. They are going to assess the scene; they are going to view any person they come in contact with for possible weapons. If they see weapons they are going to have to act accordingly," said Rocco.

At some point during the confrontation, the officers drew their guns and shot Telasco; he died on his front lawn. Neighbors said they didn't know anything was happening until they heard the gunshots.

"I think I heard seven or eight shots," said neighbor Jackie Alexander. "It was 'pop, pop, pop'."

Rocco said there were several officers on the scene at the time of the shooting but he did not indicate how many actually fired on Telasco.

Police are now reviewing a recording of the call to 911 to see if they can determine who phoned in the disturbance call.

""We are trying to determine if in fact it was the victim who called it in himself or if it was someone else," said Rocco. "Right now we don't have any other information that anyone else called -- inside the house or a third person."

Telasco's father said his son didn't have a cell phone and the circumstances police described which led to them shot Cedric were very much out of character for him. Neighbors were also shocked. They described Telasco as a quite man who lived on the block with his mother.

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