Jacksonville police shot and killed a man they said fought an officer during an arrest and had a gun. It was the Sheriff’s Office’s 17th shooting with two days left in the year.
It began about 6:30 p.m. Dec. 29 with a task force doing surveillance at a home on Ponce Boulevard near New Berlin Road for a suspect, William Lowe, who had warrants for a stolen car and several business burglaries. He could be seen peeking outside and after about an hour got into a vehicle that arrived, Chief Alan Parker said.
As Lowe and the driver pulled out of the driveway, the officers stopped the car and took Lowe into into custody. But driver did not comply and wouldn’t turn the car off when another officer tried to detain him, Parker said.
“As he’s getting him out of the car, that suspect begins to fight,” the chief said. “They fight pretty hard, they go to the ground, and during the altercation that suspect produces a handgun, and the officer was luckily able to shoot him in the head himself with his own handgun and end the threat at that time. That suspect did not survive his injury.”
He said the officer could be heard on video yelling, “Gun, gun, he’s got a gun.”
The Sheriff’s Office has not identified the driver yet but said Officer Zachary Jennings fired the shot. It was his first police shooting in his eight years with the Sheriff’s Office.
Of the 17 suspects shot by Jacksonville police this year, 11 died. It’s the most since 2008 when officers shot 28 suspects, 14 fatally, according to Times-Union records.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville police shoot armed man in the head for 17th JSO shooting