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Suicidal 61-year-old killed after pointing gun at Clay County deputies on Christmas Day

A 61-year-old was shot and killed after he pointed a gun at Clay County deputies on Christmas Day.

Deputies said Michael Altice called the sheriff's office around 12:30 p.m. and told them he wanted to shoot someone and commit suicide by cop.

Altice was inside a motor home parked on the front lawn of property owned by his family near Calendula Avenue and Cosmos Avenue off County Road 218.

He came out of the trailer with a gun and pointed it at officers, deputies said.

Deputies told Altice to drop the weapon but he refused and continued to threaten deputies.

Two officers fired several shots at Altice and he was killed, deputies said.

“I feel bad for the families …everyone involved, I feel bad for the officers who were put in this position," Clay County Sheriff Rick Beseler said. "If you point a gun at a police officer, you are going to get shot."

Deputies said Altice was a convicted felon and had an extensive criminal history.

"It is a cowardly and selfish act for someone to put someone else in a position of having to take your life and then to have to live with that as part of their life," Beseler said.

The man had been living in the motor home for the past month, deputies said.

His family was inside a home on the property during the shooting.

Beseler said he thinks the shooting is part of a larger problem of mental health care in the country.

He said suicide by cop is becoming an epidemic in our country that requires better mental health treatment.

The two officers had been with CCSO for one and two years, Beseler said. They have not been involved in any other officer-involved shootings.

There have been three officer-involved shootings in Clay County in 2016, one in May and one in July.

The last shooting was also a suicide by cop situation, Beseler said.

Action News Jax has a crew on the scene.

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Deputies say an officer shot someone at a Middleburg home on Christmas Day:

Posted by Action News Jax on Sunday, December 25, 2016