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Police: Ocoee officer forced to shoot armed woman at Burger King

OCOEE, Fla. — A police officer shot a woman who was pointing a gun at him inside a Burger King, according to the Ocoee Police Department.

The shooting happened Friday night at the Burger King on Silver Star Road near North Clarke Road.

Police said it began as a fight between the woman and her brother, who works at the restaurant.

"It got to the point she got so impatient she grabbed him at a counter where he was working," said Lt. Mike Bryant, a police department spokesman. "She grabbed ahold of him and a push and shove match went on."

Employees told Channel 9 the woman locked the restaurant's doors.

No customers were in the building during the incident. But police said there were three employees in the store, one of whom noticed the woman was armed with a gun.

Officers said that upon forcing their way in to the store, they witnessed a fight and told the woman to drop the gun, but she didn't.

Ocoee police said the officer, who hasn't been publicly identified, was forced to shoot the woman.

"She lifted a gun in his direction and the officer defended himself," Bryant said.

The woman's brother told investigators she could be a "habitual drug user" and that she is "mentally unstable," Bryant said.

The woman, whose name has not been released, is expected to survive her injuries.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the incident, which is the standard procedure for officer-involved shootings.

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