MELBOURNE, Fla. — According to the Melbourne Orlando International Airport Police Department, a man shot Friday while trying to access a secured area of the facility has died.
In a statement, the department said the shooting took place just after 9 a.m. when officers responded to a report of a suspicious individual "wanting access through a secured gate to make entry on an aircraft at the aircraft maintenance facility located on the airfield."
The man — later identified as 40-year-old John Jay Neibuhr, of Palm Bay — was located by officers on the south side of the airport property. When they approached him, investigators say the officers found that Neibuhr was armed and he was hit by a bullet when shots were fired.
The MAPD statement did not say specifically what happened to prompt the shooting.
"Officers attempted to provide medical aid, as did Emergency Medical Services personnel," the statement said. "However, he succumbed to his injuries at the hospital."
The two officers involved in the incident were not injured.
Per standard protocol, the officers were placed on administrative leave while the Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigates the incident.
According to an officer-safety/situational awareness bulletin, Niebuhr was not unknown to law enforcement. On June 17, officers from the Palm Bay Police Department were called to the 3200 block of Kirkland Road after witnesses reported seeing Niebuhr acting suspiciously.
"Citizens called in that for the last several days, a white male in a red truck ... had been coming out to the property and sitting for hours in his truck, driving back and forth, and was removing stakes along the property line."
And on June 24, officials said Niebuhr went to the Palm Bay Police Department and told officers "that the government is watching and tracking him."
The bulletin also listed several criminal charges Niebuhr had faced in the past, but did not include any information about which, if any, resulted in a conviction.
The investigation into Friday's shooting is ongoing.