ORLANDO, Fla. -- A small bear prowling an east Orlando neighborhood died after it was shot twice with a taser by Orlando police officers. Eyewitness News first reported about the bear stealing garbage in the Waterside subdivision on Tuesday.

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Tuesday night, the bear was back in the neighborhood and things quickly got out of control. Neighbors said it really escalated when the bear walked into a garage. The people inside playing cards got scared and started throwing chairs at the animal.

Moments later, the bear was out in between two houses and police fired at it with their tasers.

Neighbors said they'd never seen anything like it. The small bear was running loose in the streets. It was the same bear that neighbors complained was running loose and digging into their garbage.

But Tuesday night it was back. When police arrived, they first tried to scare the bear back into the woods at the advice of Florida Fish and Wildlife. But the bear wouldn't respond and kept roaming from house to house, finally going inside one of the garages that had four people inside.

Police said they typically would pull out a gun, but with all the people nearby they used the taser, striking the bear twice. They then lassoed it around the neck to subdue it and that's when the bear suddenly died.

"Unfortunately, they did what they thought needed to be done, did a good job with what they had. It didn't work out," said Mike Orlando, Florida Fish and Wildlife.

Fish and Wildlife biologists said the biggest problem that led up to the bear's death is they have evidence people were feeding the bear, attracting it to the area.

Orlando police said they never intended to kill the bear, but did what they could to keep citizens safe.