{"id":163769,"date":"2026-02-21T13:06:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T13:06:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/163769\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T13:06:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T13:06:11","slug":"was-shooting-justified-teen-killed-by-off-duty-deputy-during-alleged-walmart-shoplifting-incident","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/163769\/","title":{"rendered":"Was shooting justified? Teen killed by off-duty deputy during alleged Walmart shoplifting incident"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Teen Teen killed by off-duty deputy during alleged Walmart shoplifting<\/a> <\/p>\n

A 16-year-old boy was shot and killed by an off-duty Osceola County sheriff\u2019s deputy during an alleged shoplifting incident at a Walmart, authorities said.\u00a0The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) is investigating the shooting to determine whether the deputy\u2019s actions were justified.<\/p>\n

POINCIANA, Fla. – A 16-year-old boy was shot and killed by an off-duty Osceola County sheriff\u2019s deputy during an alleged shoplifting incident at a Walmart, authorities said.<\/p>\n

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) is investigating the shooting to determine whether the deputy\u2019s actions were justified.<\/p>\n

New Details:<\/p>\n

According to the Osceola Sheriff\u2019s Office, Jairus Jones was armed and running from the deputy toward other shoppers when the deputy fired.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Shoppers inside the store described chaotic scenes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Everyone was running and screaming,” one witness told FOX 35 News. “In that moment, I was thinking, oh, I\u2019m gonna die with my daughter here.”<\/p>\n

Law enforcement training expert Steve Kelley said the presence of both a firearm and bystanders is a critical factor in assessing the deputy\u2019s response.\u00a0<\/p>\n

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX LOCAL APP<\/a><\/p>\n

“Wherever we go, we are there to ensure the safety of the public. That\u2019s our number one goal,” Kelley said. “If there\u2019s a guy running at us with a gun, their safety\u2019s in jeopardy. I have to take action. I must take action to save their life.”<\/p>\n

Defense attorney Michael Panella noted the FDLE is examining whether Jones posed an immediate threat to the deputy or others.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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“Once the firearm was introduced, if it was pointed at anyone, that\u2019s something I\u2019d like to see on the body cam. But if he just happened to have a firearm and wasn\u2019t threatening to use it, that will make the case more difficult to analyze,” Panella said.<\/p>\n

The sheriff\u2019s office said body camera footage will be released once the FDLE reaches a certain stage in its investigation.<\/p>\n

The Source: This story was written based on information shared by the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), witness accounts, law enforcement training expert Steve Kelley, and defense attorney Michael Panella.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0 Osceola County News<\/a>Crime and Public Safety<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Teen killed by off-duty deputy during alleged Walmart shoplifting A 16-year-old boy was shot and killed by an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":163770,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[630,47,115,139,141,140,1976,628],"class_list":["post-163769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-crime-publicsafety","tag-fl","tag-news","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-osceola-county","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163769\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/163770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}