Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri says a mental health call for an armed man in St. Petersburg ended with officers being forced to shoot the man.
St. Pete officers were called to a home at 121 Pershing Street Northeast around 11:20 a.m. Sunday.
Sheriff Gualtieri says a man called police after reporting his brother, Kasey Sedlock, was suicidal and acting erratically, and that the brother had a history of mental health issues, substance abuse, and prior self-harm attempts.
“The officers went in and as they went into the house, they went down the hallway and saw Kasey standing at the end of the hallway and he had the knife in his hand and he was saying, ‘shoot me, shoot me’ to the officers.” Sheriff Gualtieri said.
Officers attempted to de-escalate and used a Taser, causing him to fall and drop the knife, but Sheriff Gualtieri says he continued to reach for the knife despite being hit with a Taser two more times.
Sheriff Gualtieri says he eventually rearmed himself with the knife again.
“The shooting officer was concerned for his safety and the others and felt like that they were in imminent peril. So he fired four times.”
Sedlock was taken to a hospital, where he died at 12:20 p.m.
The investigation is ongoing, body camera footage will be reviewed, and the officer’s name will be withheld for 72 hours under a new Florida law.
Sheriff Gualtieri described the situation as tragic. “This is a sad situation where somebody has obvious mental health issues and a long history of drug abuse,” Gualtieri said.