Man shot dead by police after throwing nine-year-old boy into bonfire to ‘rid him of demon’

The child is not suffering from serious injuries and is currently with the Florida Department of Children and Families

Lakenya Lavonn Phillips was met with various charges after police recovered her son from a burning fire (Highlands County Sheriff’s Office)

Florida police shot and killed a man after he attacked authorities “with a metal rod” after they discovered he had thrown a child onto a fire.

On 19 December, just after 4pm, Highlands County Fire-Rescue and sheriff’s office deputies responded to reports about “several people burning debris -- including live ammunition -- on the side of the road.”

When they arrived at the scene, they found Richard Myron Ham, 39, Lakenya Lavonn Phillips, 30, and Ms Phillips’ nine-year-old son. The mother and son had been listed as “missing and endangered” out of Wichita, Kansas since 6 December.

Ham was “armed” with two metal rods, the Highlands County Sheriff’s Office wrote.

After not following the deputies’ orders, Ham was tased, but the taser didn’t seem to affect him, police wrote, as he then “dropped the metal rods and pulled the taser probes from his body.”

Ms Phillips then grabbed one of the rods, and gave it to Ham, who struck a deputy in the head, police wrote. That’s when a deputy fired a shot at Ham. The 39-year-old was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Meanwhile, Ms Phillips was taken into custody.

Following the deadly discovery, the sheriff’s office revealed that Ham and Phillips were burning the child’s possessions because the pair “believed he was possessed by a demon.” Beyond his possessions, though, Ham placed the child into the fire and “covered him with a blanket that was also on fire,” the sheriff’s office wrote.

The child is not suffering from serious injuries and is currently with the Florida Department of Children and Families.

Authorities spoke to the child, who said that he had not bathed or brushed his teeth in at least 10 days and had not been fed for at least 24 hours.

The nine-year-old also added that both adults “regularly” used drugs. Apparently, Ham had previously threatened the child with a large knife — and said that knife had been used to “to kill someone.”

Authorities said they recovered “multiple firearms and drugs” from the pair’s vehicle.

Ms Phillips was charged with attempted murder of a law enforcement officer, battery on a law enforcement officer, resisting arrest with violence and cruelty toward a child. She is currently being held in jail without bond.

The injured deputy was treated at a hospital and has since been released.