Jacksonville Gunman Killed By Officer Identified
On Thursday morning a man, who police said was holing a shotgun in one hand and a liquor bottle in the other, was shot and killed by a veteran police officer, said Undersheriff Pat Ivey.
According to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, a man in his late 20’s or early 30’s shot into a house on Shims Road, north of New Berlin Road, around 7 a.m. Police have not yet identified the man, but neighbors say he is Jacob DePetris, who is in an on-and-off relationship with a woman who lives in a second residence on the property, but she wasn’t home at the time.
Police said the man forced his way into the house where evidence and witnesses say he threatened to kill the man and woman inside but misfired his gun several times, which gave the residents time to call the police.
Officer Howard Smith, a 27-year veteran with the JSO, arrived to the scene and encountered the man outside. The man was heading towards the second residence on the property where a relative of the victims lived.
The man ignored the officer’s orders to drop his shotgun and appeared to raise it instead. Smith fired and the gunman died at the scene.
“Per witnesses, the subject made statements to the effect of he was not going to drop the firearm,” Ivey said, per News4Jax. “On the last particular time after being told several times, he raised it quite high in pointing it at the officer, and the officer discharged his weapon twice.”
Ivey said the gunman had a history of arrests that include: trespassing, criminal mischief, DUI and other arrests. He had never been arrested or charged with violent offenses.
According to the neighbors that gave out the gunman’s name, DePetris haas a child with the women he went to the house looking for.
This is Smith’s first officer-involved shooting and he has been put on administrative leave.