Son remembers beloved Jacksonville musician, engineer who was killed in \u2018road rage\u2019 shooting<\/a><\/p>\nIn a review released to News4JAX, the State Attorney\u2019s Office concluded 22-year-old Cameron Avery was justified in using deadly force against 62-year-old Joe Starkey during the Dec. 10, 2025 shooting at the intersection of St. John\u2019s Bluff Road South and Theresa Drive.<\/p>\n
The family\u2019s attorney, John Phillips, said he has plans to file a wrongful death lawsuit as they continue pushing for accountability in the case.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe disagree with their findings,\u201d Phillips said.<\/p>\n
According to the report, Starkey exited his vehicle during a confrontation between the two drivers and approached Avery\u2019s SUV while it was stopped at a traffic light.<\/p>\n
Investigators said Avery and his girlfriend were delivering food for DoorDash when the encounter escalated.<\/p>\n
Witness accounts differed about how the confrontation began. Starkey\u2019s wife told investigators Avery was driving erratically and nearly caused a crash. Avery and his girlfriend, Elaine Bird, said Starkey had been tailgating them and flashing his high beams.<\/p>\n
The State Attorney\u2019s Office said Starkey got out of his vehicle despite his wife urging him not to.<\/p>\n
Avery and Bird told detectives Starkey approached the open driver-side window of the SUV while yelling and gesturing aggressively. Avery said he warned Starkey that he was armed and told him not to approach.<\/p>\n
According to the review, Starkey then reached into the vehicle through the open window, prompting Avery to fire one shot.<\/p>\n
Crime scene investigators found blood evidence on and inside Avery\u2019s vehicle that prosecutors said supported Avery\u2019s account that Starkey was at or inside the vehicle window at the time of the shooting.<\/p>\n
The report concluded Avery reasonably believed deadly force was necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors cited Florida\u2019s self-defense and Stand Your Ground laws, including statutory protections involving forcible entry into an occupied vehicle.<\/p>\n
\u201cAccordingly, the use of deadly force was lawful, and no criminal charges are warranted,\u201d the report stated.<\/p>\n
Avery immediately called 911 after the shooting, remained at the scene and cooperated with investigators, according to the review.<\/p>\n
An autopsy found Starkey died from a gunshot wound to the chest. Toxicology results showed his blood alcohol concentration was 0.112.<\/p>\n
The State Attorney\u2019s Office said no charges will be filed unless additional evidence emerges.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Prosecutors have determined a Jacksonville man acted lawfully when he fatally shot another driver during…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":269727,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[4823,116,118,117,45254],"class_list":["post-269726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-fatal-shooting","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-joe-starkey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269726","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=269726"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269726\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/269727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=269726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=269726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=269726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}