Andrew Pantazi

apantazi@jacksonville.com

The Neptune Beach teen who killed his grandmother while she was watching over him in 2017 was sentenced Thursday to 15 years in prison and 10 years of probation, the lowest sentence he could receive under his plea deal.

Logan Tyler Mott, 17, pleaded guilty Sept. 18 to second-degree murder in the shooting and stabbing death of 53-year-old Kristina June French.

Prosecutors sought a 40-year sentence, but Circuit Judge Bruce Anderson said that wasn’t appropriate for the teenager. Mott, according to expert testimony, had been going through therapy related to family trauma and had been experiencing a diabetic episode.

“There’s no doubt this was a violent act by Logan Mott, who is an intelligent non-aggressive teenager,” the judge said. “This court finds the shooting of his grandmother was the result of simmering family conflict for many many years.”

Under Mott’s plea deal, 15 years was the lightest sentence that the State Attorney’s Office would allow.

“We believe the facts and circumstances of this brutal murder warranted the maximum penalty that the state sought under the plea agreement,” said State Attorney’s Office spokesman David Chapman. “However, we respect the court’s decision.”

Because Mott has been detained for two years while waiting on the sentence, he has 13 years remaining. If he behaves well in prison, he could get out in 11 years. He’ll serve the first few years, until he’s 21, in juvenile facilities.

Mott’s attorney, Public Defender Charlie Cofer, praised Anderson for his lengthy order, which detailed the facts he considered in making his decision.

“Eric and Carrie Mott are grateful for the immense amount of time and work Judge Anderson expended in determining Logan’s sentence,” he said. “Logan is incredibly remorseful for what happened and is determined to become a good member of the community when he completes his sentence.”

Last month Mott, who was 15 at the time of the attack, addressed the judge. “This is entirely my fault. And even though I don’t understand why I did this, I’ll never be more ashamed and sorry for what I’ve done. … The world is a darker place without her presence, her tenacity and her kindness.”

French was overseeing Mott while his father was on vacation. Then Mott’s father, a Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office corrections lieutenant, reported her and his son missing after returning to find their home ransacked. Several guns, including his service weapons, were stolen from the home.

The teen drove to Upstate New York before he was caught by Border Patrol agents on the bridge heading into Canada. Two of his father’s guns and a bloody knife were found in the car when he was arrested, police said.

Eric Mott told the court that his mother wouldn’t have wanted his son to go to prison for a long time. He chastised prosecutors who, he said, didn’t respect the wishes of the victim’s family, who wanted more lenience. He also expressed frustration that the judge couldn’t go below the 15-year minimum set by prosecutors.

“Locking Logan away for an extended period of time would be like killing my mom all over again,” he said.

Later, he added: “I also wanted to make a statement to voice my family’s frustration and anger with the state’s decision to ignore my family’s request to set a more reasonable and lower end of the sentencing range. I realize this is not under Your Honor’s purview and I feel like Logan’s decision to take this offer was in his best interest, but … view even the lowest end of the sentencing range as much harsher than my mom would ever want and unreasonable given Logan’s age and circumstances.”

Part of the trauma Mott experienced involved a bitter divorce between his parents that included both of them accusing the other of abusive behavior. He also had a troubling relationship with a girl who sent him naked pictures, and both shared pictures of them harming themselves. Later, according to court testimony, she shared embarrassing posts on social media about him just as he was starting a new school.

One psychologist said Logan saw parts of both of his parents in them, and their bitter dispute and animosity toward each other, and he came to hate things he saw in himself.

Mott also struggled with Type 1 diabetes, an auto-immune disease that stops the pancreas from producing insulin, a hormone that regulates blood sugar. Too much or too little of that hormone — an amount that varies greatly each day depending on diet, exercise, sleep and other hormones — can cause severe reactions, including death. Low blood sugar can lead to rage, for example, and high blood sugar can lead to mental confusion.

For years Mott had used an insulin pump and a continuous blood-sugar monitor that made controlling his sugar levels easier, according to court testimony. But while he was staying with his grandmother, he’d run out of his blood-sugar monitor supplies and had to instead manually check his levels, something his father said often led to much worse conditions.

The judge said Mott’s blood-sugar levels, along with his drinking alcohol, played a significant role in making it difficult for him to think straight.

Mott killed his grandmother, Anderson said, while planning to run away.

“The court finds there is a high possibility the defendant can be rehabilitated. … Logan Mott’s remorse was evident in his demeanor at the time of his statement.”

Andrew Pantazi: (904) 359-4310

Jim Schoettler

Makia Coney left with two classmates Feb. 10 believing their after-school plans included buying cigars, smoking them in the woods and having fun.

But Connor Pridgen and Charles Southern had other plans. They’d found their target for a thrill kill.

PHOTO GALLERY: View images from the Makia Coney case

Prosecutor Mark Caliel discussed for the first time the actions of Pridgen and Southern after the Jacksonville teens pleaded guilty to second-degree murder Thursday for killing Coney, 17.

Pridgen, 16, and Southern, 17, face sentences of 40 years to life.

Southern told Caliel during plea negotiations July 1 that he and Pridgen intended to become armed robbers with guns they had stolen. Southern said they wanted to know what it would be like to fire a gun if they had to shoot a robbery victim. Pridgen provided a similar story of seeking a thrill, though he mentioned nothing about becoming a robber.

“Their actions personified evil,” Caliel said after the hearing.

The teens and their unsuspecting friend were classmates at University Christian School off University Boulevard. The three met before a fifth-period class and made what Coney thought were harmless plans. When she walked away, Pridgen and Southern laid their trap.

“When Charles Southern pulled the truck up to the front of the school and Connor Pridgen walked Makia Coney out of the school,” Caliel said, “it was with the intent to kill her that afternoon.”

Shortly after parking in a wooded area about three miles from school, Southern shot Coney in the head. Pridgen followed. They used separate guns stolen from the home of another schoolmate.

Coney’s body was found a few hours later. Fragments found in one wound were fired from a revolver recovered at Pridgen’s home, reports said. Tire tracks matched Southern’s truck and students reported seeing him with a revolver the day before the shooting. Pridgen was seen on school surveillance video exiting a hallway with Coney the day of her killing.

The teens were arrested two days later and provided self-serving excuses for shooting Coney, Caliel said. Southern initially told detectives he shot Coney by accident while waving his gun, and Pridgen said he finished off the gravely wounded victim out of mercy. They were indicted on first-degree murder charges in March.

Caliel said Pridgen told the truth in a subsequent interview in mid-June, and Southern admitted to the real plans about two weeks later. The teens, who came from supportive families with the means to send them to the private school, said they wanted to become robbers to buy things.

Caliel said the more he learned about the killing, the more inexplicable it became.

“They lived in good, loving homes and had, quite frankly, things available to them that many of our children in the community don’t have,” Caliel said.

Southern’s attorney, Rhonda Peoples-Waters, said her client was remorseful.

“Certainly there is not any excuse justifiable for the actions on that day,” she said.

Pridgen’s attorney could not be reached for comment.

Both teens said little during the hearing, offering brief answers to Circuit Judge Libby Senterfitt’s mostly procedural questions. Coney’s family declined to comment, as did Pridgen’s. Southern had no family in court.

Sentencing was scheduled for Oct. 1.

Caliel said he can’t gauge whether the teens are truly remorseful.

“I can’t tell whether they’re sorry they did it or sorry they got caught,” Caliel said.

Pridgen and Southern had been charged with first-degree murder, which would have brought a mandatory life sentence. They never faced the death penalty – applied only in first-degree murder cases – because it is not allowed for juveniles.

Caliel said he discussed the plea negotiations with Coney’s family, which he said agreed with the decision. Caliel said one reason for the negotiations is that both teens admitted to why they shot Coney, changing their original stories.

“Our job as prosecutors is to seek the truth,” Caliel said, “and the only way we can guarantee that the truth of this horrible action would come out is by accepting these plea dispositions.”

jim.schoettler@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4385

UPDATED: 5:00 p.m. ET, June 12, 2023

The centuries-old American tradition of Black men killed by police suffered an untraditional jolt when former cop Derek Chauvin was found guilty and convicted on all counts for murdering George Floyd by kneeling on the unarmed, handcuffed man’s neck for more than nine minutes.

But if anybody thought police would be deterred by that apparent exception to the rule of holding police accountable for killing Black people, they should think again as it has been a quick resumption of law enforcement normalcy with continued shootings of Black men and boys with impunity since Chauvin’s murder conviction.

MORE: #SayHerName: Black Women And Girls Killed By Police

On June 1, police in Aurora, Colorado, shot and killed 14-year-old Jor’Dell Richardson over the reported suspicion he had committed a robbery and was armed. An unidentified officer with the Aurora Police Department shot Richardson once in the stomach during a brief chase. Officers suspected Richardson had a firearm, but the weapon was later determined to be a pellet gun that video footage confirms the teen never wielded and remained in his waistband.

A local medical examiner’s office later determined that the shooting death was a homicide.

Bodycam video footage released last week shows Richardson giving up and asking for mercy seconds before the officer shoots him at close range.

Colorado Public Radio reported on the contents of the bodycam video footage:

The Arapahoe County Coroner’s Office confirmed the cause of death was a gunshot wound and classified the death as a homicide.

Officers called for an ambulance, which took him to University Hospital in Aurora.

Five seconds later, Gruszeczka fires a single shot into Richardson’s upper abdomen. Video from both officers is obscured by clothing.

“Gun, gun. Let go of the (expletive) gun,” said Officer Roch Gruszeczka. “I’m going to shoot your ass! Dude, I’m going to shoot you!”

As officers chase Richardson down the alleyway, video shows the teenager reaching toward his waistband.

Aurora Police Chief Art Acevedo maintains that Richardson “pointed” the pellet gun at the officer despite video evidence to the contrary.

Jor’dell Richardson’s name joins a long list of too many other Black men and boys killed by the police, including people who have become household names for all the wrong reasons like Jayland Walker, Patrick Lyoya, Tamir Rice, Botham Jean, E.J. Bradford, and Michael Brown. But there are plenty of others whose police killings never went “viral,” including people like Michael Dean, a 28-year-old father who police shot in the head on Dec. 3, 2019, and Jamee Johnson, a 22-year-old HBCU student who police shot to death after a questionable traffic stop on Dec. 14, 2019.

One of the most distressing parts of this seemingly nonstop string of police killings of Black people is the fact that more times than not, the officer involved in the shooting can hide behind the claim that they feared for their lives — even if the victim was shot in the back, as has become the case for so many deadly episodes involving law enforcement. In a handful of those cases — such as Antwon Rose, a 13-year-old boy killed in Pittsburgh, and Stephon Clark, a 22-year-old killed in Sacramento, both of whom were unarmed — the officers either avoided being criminally charged altogether or were acquitted despite damning evidence that the cops’ lives were not threatened and there was no cause for them to resort to lethal force or any violence for that matter.

Crump, who has been retained in so many of these cases, described the above scenarios in his book, “Open Season,” as the “genocide” of Black people.

As NewsOne continues covering these shootings that so often go ignored by mainstream media, the below running list (in no certain order) of Black men and boys who have been shot and killed by police under suspicious circumstances can serve as a tragic reminder of the dangers Black and brown citizens face upon being born into a world of hate that has branded them as suspects since birth.

Scroll down to learn more about the Black men and boys who have lost their lives to police violence.

1. Amaree’ya Henderson Amaree’ya Henderson was killed by KCKPD on April 26, 2023, after a confrontation during a traffic stop. Police haven’t released much information surrounding the incident, but the family says he was unarmed and posed no threat to police. According to the Star, Henderson’s mother was on the phone with him during the moments of his death. She says Henderson called her on FaceTime and asked her to come to where he had been pulled over. Moments later, she overhears gunfire. His fiancée, who was in the car when he was shot, recalls officers “grabbing, pulling, punching” Henderson before he was shot twice. Last week, protesters, civil rights organizations and community members gathered at the Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department, demanding that the bodycam footage be released. Henderson’s mother, Pauletta Johnson, spoke at the rally telling the crowd her son didn’t deserve this type of ending. “He was a great human being and an awesome son,” said Pauletta. “It’s never been a day in his 25 years of life that he has disappointed me and he has always put family first.” She continued, “What was taken away from me was my only son that I can never get back. I’m scared and I feel like I’m about to fall apart.”

2. Dalaneo Martin Source:GoFundMe Dalaneo Martin, a 17-year-old Black teen, was shot at killed last month by U.S. Park Police in Washington, D.C. after the teenager was found sleeping in a vehicle police say was stolen. Newly released body camera footage was released by police, which has led to an FBI civil rights investigation into the deadly shooting. “The loss of a life is always tragic but is especially heartbreaking when it involves a child,” the US Attorney’s Office in Washington said in a statement, calling the bodycam video “extremely upsetting. In coordination with the FBI Washington Field Office, the United States Attorney’s Office has opened a civil rights investigation into the circumstances leading to Mr. Martin’s death. That investigation – which we are committed to conducting diligently and thoroughly – is ongoing.” According to reports, officers from Park Police and the Metropolitan Police were responding to a call about a stolen vehicle. When officers arrived on the scene, they observed Martin asleep with the ignition on. The video then shows officers discussing whether they should break the vehicle’s window to pull Martin out. “Once you break it, he’s gonna wake up, start it and put it in drive to go. We don’t want nobody to get hurt,” one officer is heard telling another in the bodycam footage. The video then shows officers as they continue to strategize about detaining Martin. “So, here’s the plan. He’s knocked out. The back window is just a plastic. I’m going to try to cut that out quietly, unlock the door. If he doesn’t get startled, doesn’t wake up then we’re going to try to get in there, grab him before he puts that car in gear,” said one of the officers. “If he does take off, just let him go.” Officers from both agencies approach the vehicle and try pulling Martin out. A Park Police officer then jumps into the backseat yelling, “Police, don’t move. Don’t move. Don’t move.” In a panic, Martin then drives off with the Park Police officer still in the backseat. The officer then yells at Martin to stop, but the vehicle keeps going. “Stop man, just let me out. Let me go,” yells the officer. “Stop. Stop or I’ll shoot!” The officer then shoots Martin causing the vehicle to crash into a house as the officer jumps out. According to US Park Police, Dalaneo Martin died at the scene. They also claim a gun was recovered from the vehicle after his death. None of the officers involved have been identified. Dalaneo’s mother, Terra Martin told CNN that her son shouldn’t be dead and demanded the officers involved be publicly identified and held accountable for their actions. “This pain hurts so bad. I just want justice for my son,” said Terra. “And I need the officer to be locked up, all of them that played a role.”

3.

4. Alaunte Scott Alaunte Scott was shot and killed by U.S. Marshals as he was taking the garbage out of his home on Tuesday afternoon in southeast Washington, D.C., the Washington Post reported. Scott’s mother said the Marsdhs claimed they were trying to execute an arrest for a parole violation before shooting her son in the back because they allegedly saw the 22-year-old holding a gun. None of the Marshals were wearing body cameras.

5. Gershun Freeman Gershun Freeman, 33, died Oct. 5, 2022, inside Shelby County Jail after an encounter with his jailers in Memphis. A 13-minute-long edited video released by the Nashville District Attorney’s Office shows officers handing out meals to inmates. When officers get to Freeman’s cell, the video shows Freeman lunging at officers and nearly a dozen officers trying to subdue him. In the video, Freeman can be seen getting kicked, punched and paper sprayed repeatedly by officers. According to the autopsy summary, Freeman suffered cardiac arrest while he was restrained and his death has been classified as a homicide.

6. Darryl Tyree Williams On Jan 17, Darryl Tyree Williams, 32, was violently arrested by Raleigh Police in North Carolina. During his arrest, he warned officers about a heart condition fearful that the arrest could complicate his condition. But officers didn’t heed his warning and repeatedly tasered him before he lost consciousness. Williams would later die in the hospital. According to Yahoo, Williams was in the driver’s seat of a vehicle when officers conducting a proactive patrol approached the Black man. The incident obtained by AP states that officers noticed an open container of alcohol and marijuana in the car and asked the occupants to step out. The report also says that an officer decided to arrest Willians after finding a dollar bill with a “white powdery substance consistent with the appearance of cocaine” during a strip search. But the bodycam video, which was released by police, tells a different story. In the video, Williams can be seen telling officers about his heart condition, then asking “Why are you all doing this to me?”

7. Alonzo Bagley Source:facebook Alonzo Bagley, 43, was shot in the chest by Shreveport officer Alexander Tyler after police responded to an alleged domestic disturbance call. After receiving the complaint, officer Tyler and his partner arrived at Villa Norte Apartment Complex around 11 p.m. to investigate the call. When the officers encountered Bagley, he allegedly jumped from a balcony, trying to escape on foot. Authorities then say that’s when officer Tyler saw Bagley round the corner of a building. Tyler then fired one shot, hitting the unarmed Black man in the chest. Bagley was given CPR and then taken to a hospital where he later died. Louisiana State Police Superintendent Col. Lamar Davis told the public during a recent press conference that the incident was recorded on police body camera, and will be made public, though his timetable for the release was vague. Davis has asked the public to “remain patient as we continue to conduct a very thorough investigation.” A spokesperson for the family told KSLA, that the incident started when a neighbor called the police because the music was too loud in Bagley’s apartment. He went on to say that Bagley and his wife were both inside the apartment when police came and at some point, Bagley did run from the police before he was shot. The family has also hired attorney Ron Haley, whose clients include the family of Ronald Greene, a Black motorist killed in 2019 by Louisiana state police.

8. Anthony Lowe Anthony Lowe, 36, died in late January after officers from the Huntington Park Police Department chased him while he fled on the stumps of his legs, video footage recorded by a bystander shows. The Los Angeles Times reported that Lowe was “holding a long-bladed knife” during the slow chase last Thursday. The rate at which Lowe was fleeing did not appear to be fast enough to elude officers. Still, they opted for lethal force after they claim the deployment of a Taser was “ineffective.” A 30-second long clip posted on social media showed Lowe scurrying away from a wheelchair as the police pointed guns at him. While the footage does show Lowe motion as if he was about to throw the knife — and the officers do flinch — it never appeared as though the officers’ lives were under a direct threat. Police said in a press release that Lowe was shot in the “upper torso” and pronounced dead on the scene. The Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department’s homicide unit is investigating the shooting. Huntington Park Police Department officers are not equipped with body-worn cameras, so the bystander’s video is crucial to the investigation. Police claim officers responded to a call reporting a stabbing by a man in a wheelchair.

9. Tyre Nichols Source:Twitter On Jan. 7, Tyre Nichols was violently arrested after Memphis PD suspected him of reckless driving. According to MPD, “a confrontation occurred” after officers approached Nichols, who “fled on foot.” A second unspecified “confrontation” occurred when MPD tried to take Nichols into custody, police said. “Afterward, the suspect complained of having a shortness of breath, at which time an ambulance was called to the scene. The suspect was transported to St. Francis Hospital in critical condition,” MPD said of Nichols, who died Jan. 10 at the age of 29. Police body camera footage, which is expected to be released this week has been called “disgusting and “damaging.” Some city officials believed the video is so bad that police officers involved should prepare to face criminal charges. On Friday, the Memphis Police Department (MPD) fired the five officers involved stemming from their roles Jan. 7 when, according to the law enforcement narrative, Nichols was suspected of reckless driving. MPD said “a confrontation occurred” after officers approached Nichols, who “fled on foot.” A second unspecified “confrontation” occurred when MPD tried to take Nichols into custody, police said. Three fire department employees were fired and 13 police officers have been disciplined after the death of Tyre Nichols. Five former police officers have been charged with murder.

10. Takar Smith Source:GoFundMe On Jan. 2, Takar Smith, 45, was shot and killed by two LAPD officers after he raised a 10-inch (25-centimeter) butcher-style knife above his head during an altercation with officers. Before using lethal force, police also used a stun gun and pepper spray. According to AP, Smith’s wife called the police to enforce a restraining order against him but warned officers that her husband had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and had not been taking his medication. She also warned of his aggressive nature telling the dispatcher, “He’s not in his right mind.” Instead of calling for a specially trained mental health team, LAPD took an aggressive approach and approached Smith with their weapon drawn. After a 15-minute altercation with police, Smith became increasingly manic and incoherent, grabbing a knife from the kitchen counter. Officers yelled at Smith to “drop the knife,” pepper spraying then tasing him until he fell to his knees pleading with officers to “get away!” Smith then picked the knife up he a dropped after being stunned and lifted it above his head. Two officers then fired seven shots, killing Smith on the scene.

11. Keenan Anderson Source:Twitter On Jan. 3, Keenan Anderson was tased and killed by Los Angeles Police after a traffic accident led to a police altercation. According to the LAPD, when officers arrived on the scene, Anderson was acting erratically and was running in the middle of the street. The officer began to talk with Anderson and called for backup to conduct a DUI investigation. Officials said once more units arrived, Anderson started to get nervous and began to flee the scene. That’s when, “officers struggled with Anderson for several minutes, utilizing a TASER, bodyweight, firm grips, and joint locks to overcome resistance,” the LAPD said in a written press release. But body camera footage, which was released this week, paints a picture of a scared Black man pleading for help as officers overwhelm him from all angles. Video from the arrest shows officers struggling to detain Anderson and tasing him for more than 30 seconds straight before an officer pauses and then tases him again for five more seconds. Once Anderson was detained and arrested, he was transported to a local hospital where he went into cardiac arrest and was pronounced dead. Anderson, who is the cousin of Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors, was a dedicated high school teacher and father. His tragic death has sparked outrage in the community as family and friends demand justice and accountability for his death. “My cousin was asking for help, and he didn’t receive it. He was killed,” Cullors told the Guardian after watching LAPD’s footage. “Nobody deserves to die in fear, panicking and scared for their life. My cousin was scared for his life. He spent the last 10 years witnessing a movement challenging the killing of Black people. He knew what was at stake and he was trying to protect himself. Nobody was willing to protect him.”

12. Derrick Kittling A local police officer shot and killed a Black male driver who was allegedly unarmed for reasons that were not immediately disclosed. Video footage recorded at the scene includes one account that claimed the Rapides Parish Sheriff’s deputy behind the shooting in the city of Alexandria shot the driver “in the head.” The driver was ultimately identified as Derrick Kittling, 45, whose brother is a high-ranking official in the Louisiana State Police department, which is the law enforcement agency tasked with investigating the shooting. Kittling was shot and killed on Sunday afternoon, but details beyond that are unclear. Local media reported a narrative provided by law enforcement that described Kittling as the aggressor. The graphic footage showed an apparently lifeless body lying on a street as the still-unidentified police officer who shot him rummages through the trunk of his cruiser. The officer then goes over to the body and begins putting on handcuffs, according to bystanders who could be heard speaking on the video. “He ain’t have no gun or nothing,” a voice can be heard saying as the camera pans across the scene. “He just shot that man in the head.”

13. Jaheim McMillan Source:Twitter Jaheim McMillan died on Oct. 8, 2022, after being taken off life support more than two days after a police officer gunned down the 15-year-old over suspicions he was armed, according to the law enforcement narrative. McMillan was one of five young teens in a car that was reported to have threatened drivers by waving guns when police arrived outside of a local Family Dollar store on Thursday. The police presence prompted two people in the car to flee, leaving behind McMillan and two others. During a press briefing, Gulfport Police Chief Adam Cooper said “McMillan was armed” and did not comply with orders to drop a gun. “McMillan turned both his body and his weapon toward the officer,” Cooper continued. “The officer fired at McMillan,” striking the teenager. Eyewitnesses have said McMillan did not have a gun and complied before he was shot once in his head.

14. Ali Osman Police in Phoenix, Arizona, killed 34-year-old Ali Osman while he was in the throes of a mental health crisis on Sept. 24, 2022. The killing sparked outrage from the city’s Somali community, according to the Phoenix New Times. Police said Osman was throwing rocks at officers’ cars. “Commands were given for the man to stop. He did not; that’s when the officer involved shooting occurred,” Phoenix police said in a statement. It was later determined that Osman was not armed with any weapons.

15. Donovan Lewis Source:Getty Twenty-year-old Donovan Lewis had a vape pen, not a gun, when he was shot at about 2 a.m. after police executed a raid on his apartment in an effort to arrest him for outstanding warrants on Aug. 30, 2022. Bodycam footage from the shooting shows multiple cops led by 30-year veteran officer Ricky Anderson, who was holding a leash to a police K9 in one hand and his gun in the other. When Anderson pushed open Lewis’ bedroom door, instead of allowing the K9 to go inside, the officer promptly shot and killed Lewis on sight.

16. Dante Kittrell On July 29, 2022, 51-year-old Dante Kittrell was shot and killed by South Bend Police after a 40-minute standoff with officers trying to calm him down. Police believed Kittrell was armed with a handgun, but would later find out after an investigation that the weapon was a toy airsoft gun made to resemble a Glock. Officers claim they did not know it was a fake gun. According to reports, as police tried to get Kittrell to drop the weapon he responded to officers by saying things like, “I’m ready to die,” “end this,” “fire it,” and “if I point my weapon at you, you have to do your job, right? Body camera footage from the incident was released and shows an erratic Kittrell in the moments before officers shoot him. Police say Kittrell pointed the weapon at officers which lead to them shooting him three times, killing him on the scene. An investigation by St. Joseph County and Mishawaka alleges that police had no way of knowing that the weapon Mr. Kittrell pointed at the police was not a real handgun. The investigation also revealed that Kittrell’s death had been ruled a “justifiable homicide” because the officers who shot him, “believed that their lives and those of their fellow officers were in danger from Mr. Kittrell pointing what they believed to be a handgun at them,” a press release stated. No charges will be filed against the South Bend police officers.

17. Jason Lipscomb Jason Lipscomb, 21 was shot and killed by Gastonia police on July 20 in North Carolina. According to authorities, Lipscomb was trying to escape police when he struck an officer with his moving vehicle. Police arrived on the scene of the 400 block of North Edgemont Avenue after receiving a call that a man had kidnapped children that he was not supposed to have. After locating the children safely, officers turned their attention to Lipscomb who was not on the scene at the time. Police were able to locate him shortly after using a vehicle description. When officers tried to arrest Lipscomb, he ran to his vehicle and tried to flee the scene. While trying to escape from the parking lot, Lipscomb struck one of the officers with his vehicle, and multiple officers opened fire into his car. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Video from a nearby doorbell camera was released, which shows a 12-second clip of the encounter. In the video, you can see a handful of people running away from officers. Lipscomb then hops into a vehicle and tries to quickly reverse out of the parking space to leave. His car appears to strike multiple people and then shots are fired. The officer who was hit by the vehicle was taken to the hospital but is expected to make a full recovery. He was also placed on paid administrative leave. Jason Lipscomb’s mother believes that the police force was excessive and that Jason should not be dead. “They didn’t have to kill him, they could have used a Taser on him, they could have stopped him if they wanted to,” she told WBTV. The family also says Lipscomb did not kidnap any children. “He brought the kids here in a mutual place so he can get his daughter. Nothing happened,” his mother said to WBTV. “Just give him his daughter and they didn’t do it. The mom called the police and everything else and said he was kidnapping. But they all live together.” Lipscomb’s stepfather, Robert Hamlett says the family will fight until they get justice for their son. “I’m not going to let it go, he said, “We are going to do this. Lawyer up y’all. Y’all better lawyer up.”

18. Kyle Dail On July 28, 30-year-old Kyle Dail was shot and killed by a Dallas, Texas, police officer while officers attempted to arrest him on suspicion of drug dealing at an LBJ Food Mart, according to WFAA 8. On Aug 2, Dail’s family joined Dallas activist Dominique Alexander in demanding that the DPD release all of the unedited videos, “including any dashcam and helicopter videos to prove the chase happened, WFAA reported. They also demanded the officer who killed Dail be fired and charged with Dail’s death. “You can’t just take a child of God like that away from us like that with no reasoning,” Dail’s brother, Sarandon Steward, said. “At the end of the day, we should still have him here with us today, but we don’t.” “Time, money, nothing you could say, do, protest, nothing would ever make me feel right about this,” Dail’s sister Kinesha Dail said.

19. Robert Adams Robert Adams, 23 was shot in the back and killed by San Bernardino Police on Saturday as he tried to run away from officers. According to authorities, police were investigating complaints about an illegal gambling facility in the area. During their investigation officers parked their unmarked vehicle a few yards from the facility. Security camera footage shows Adams, who was working as a security guard, walking in the direction of the unmarked police vehicle, when officers jumped out with their guns drawn. Adams got scared and began to run away. According to CBS News, within 15 seconds of getting out of their car, officers shot Adams in the back as he tried to escape between two cars. He later died at the hospital. Police claimed Adams was armed while he was running away, but his family says that is a lie and that their son was murdered in cold blood. “I could understand if he was a threat to them,” Adams’ mother Tamika Deavila King told CBS News. “But he was not a threat to them. He was running for his life.” The family also claimed that the officers who killed Adams never identified themselves as police. “They just hopped out with the gun and they didn’t say anything,” said Adams’ best friend. SBPD Chief Darren Goodman has asked the community to stay calm while the facts present themselves. “We are asking the community to please withhold their judgment on the situation until they have all the available facts and details,” said Chief Goodman in a release. But Adams’ family wants justice and they say they won’t stop until they get it. “We want justice,” the victim’s stepfather Audwin King told CBS. “We want his badge. We want his job. We want murder charges.”

20. Roderick Brooks Source:twitter Roderick Brooks, 47, was shot and killed on July 8 by Texas police after authorities say he had shoplifted and assaulted a clerk from a Dollar General in Westfield. According to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, Brooks was tased by Sgt. G. Hardin, then shot in the neck after an alleged scuffle for the officer’s taser. Police say officer Hardin spotted Brooks and began to chase him. Hardin tased Brooks, jumped on his back, and began beating on Brooks. Authorities say Brooks then reached for the officer’s taser, but the family of the slain Black man say he was only trying to defend himself and shooting him was “unjustified and unnecessary.” “My brother was treated worse than an animal,” Brooks’ older sister told the Houston Chronicle.”Shoplifting does not warrant killing a man.” The family’s attorney, Sadiyah Evangelista criticized Harris County Sheriff’s Office for its lack of growth and accountability after the death of George Floyd sparked protests all over the country. “You would think that law enforcement officers … would be on high alert, would be vigilant about the standard of care that they give and the de-escalation of crime,” she told HC. “But in this case, that did not happen.”

21. Jayland Walker Source:GoFundMe/Jada Walker Killed in the early morning of Monday, June 27, 25-year-old Jayland Walker deserved a chance to go home to his family. After a reported high-speed chase, police pursued Jayland on foot. He was cornered by at least eight police officers. By all accounts, Jayland was unarmed at the time he was shot. As previously reported by NewsOne, body camera footage showed a chaotic scene in the moments before officers killed Jayland. In deference to his family, officials blurred out Jayland’s body in the footage. During a press conference Sunday, July 3, the Akron police chief said the number of rounds discharged by officers was on, but confirmed that the medical examiner’s report noted 60 wounds on Jayland’s body. Nearly a week after killing Jayland, none of the officers involved have given a formal statement, but the community is to be reassured that they are “cooperating.”

22. Omari Cryer Source:Twitter Omari Cryer, a 25-year-old Black man shot and killed by a U.S. Marshal in the Chickasaw neighborhood of Louisville on Friday May 20, 2022. According to Louisville Metro Police Department, the LMPD were assisting the U.S. Marshals Task Force in serving a warrant on a suspect named Omari Cryer. Cryer was accused of domestic violence, strangulation, and assault. According to reports, while officers tried to serve the warrant, an altercation ensued. During the encounter, a U.S. Marshal discharged his weapon and shot Cryer. Officers on the scene tried to administer first aid, but Cryer was pronounced dead on the scene. But witnesses who were on the scene tell a much different story. According to Demond Bullard, who was sitting on his porch during the altercation, Cryer was running away. “They immediately hopped out of the vehicle and they ran after him,” Bullard told WHAS11. “Within five seconds of chasing him, there were gunshots.” Bullard also told reporters that he didn’t see or hear Cryer shoot back at police. Cryer’s family, as well as the community of Louisville, demand answers from police and want the officers involved to be held accountable.

23. Patrick Lyoya Source:Facebook.com/robertswomack Patrick Lyoya’s family demanded the Grand Rapids police department release video footage showing his killing. The 26-year-old was killed on April 4 during an alleged “routine” traffic stop. As previously reported by NewsOne, Peter Lyoya, Patrick’s father, spoke to the outlet M-Live via his interpreter Israel Siku. “I don’t know what to do because I am confused. I want justice for Patrick,” the elder Lyoya said. “I want people to see the way my son was killed. I want the entire world to see how my son was executed.” The Lyoya family moved from the Democratic Republic of Congo to the United States seven years ago in search of a better life. M-Live reported Michigan State Police showed Patrick’s father a brief clip of the fatal shooting. The grieving father claimed that the officer shot Lyoya in the back of the head as he lay on the ground face down. (Read the full article here). An unidentified Grand Rapids police officer pulled Lyoya over to conduct a traffic stop on April 4 around 8 a.m., after officials claimed the young man was driving a vehicle with an unregistered license plate. According to M-Live, the Grand Rapids Police Department placed the officer on administrative leave pending the internal investigation. Kent County Commissioner Robert Womack previously condemned the shooting on Facebook, calling it “an execution.” “Gun violence by my community or by the police will not be tolerated. This man was murdered in a way that I cannot accept,” he added.

24. Irvin D. Moorer Charley A Richland Couty police officer shot and killed Irvin D. Moorer Charley in Columbia, South Carolina on March 19. Moorer Charley suffered from mental health issues. According to officials, deputies, John Anderson and Zachary Hentz were responding to a domestic violence call at the house of Connie Craig, the mother of the victim. When they arrived on the scene, Moorer Charley came outside and approached officers with a piece of wood in hand. Officers believed it to be a knife. His brother pleaded with the deputies not to shoot because Moorer Charley didn’t have a gun and had a history of mental illness. According to the body cam footage, which was edited and shared with the family, Moorer Charley slowly approached a deputy, the officer pointed his gun at him yelling for him to drop the knife. Another officer then tased Moorer Charley, but the taser had little affect on him. The deputy who yelled at Moorer Charley to drop his weapon then shoots him seven times until Moorer Charley falls to the ground. Moorer Charley’s family has demanded the full video be released to the public, but Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott believes the shooting isn’t something everyone needs to see. Lott also defended the actions of his deputies basically stating they did what they had to do. “We can’t expect these deputies to go out here and be killed,” said Lott in a statement to the AP. “They have to protect themselves. And that’s what this deputy did yesterday. He protected himself.” But the family’s attorney Shaquana Cuttino believes deputies had no right to kill Moorer Charley. “We believe officers could have disarmed Mr. Charley easily and without the use of deadly force,” said Cuttin. “Yet they came in with guns blazing.” The Richland County Sheriff’s Department will be investing the incident with an internal investigation, then a prosecutor will decide if the shooting was justified.

25. Thelonious “RaRa” McKnight Thelonious “RaRa” McKnight died on Dec. 29, 2021, after an officer with the Paterson Police Department in New Jersey shot the 25-year-old under questionable circumstances. “A cop car drove by and then came back and stopped,” McKnight’s friend and eyewitness Duke Snider told the Bergen Record the day after the shooting. “One of the cops came up and went straight for Thelonius. Then two other cops joined him. They marched Thelonius toward the backyard and made him take his hands out of his pockets.” The Bergen Record reported: “Snider said that he followed and that McKnight was facing police with his hands up when they shot him.”

26. Kokou Christopher Fiafonou Source:Kossi Adayi Minnesota police in the city of Austin killed Kokou Christopher Fiafonou, an immigrant from Togo in West Africa, by shooting him to death in the parking lot of a convenience store on Dec. 23, 2021. Police say that witnesses claim they saw Fiafonou walking in traffic while holding a machete. When the cops responded, they reportedly used their Taser guns to no avail as Fiafonou was able to flee to his residence. He was shot and killed after he later merged from his home and walked to the convenience store, police said. Kossi Adayi, one of Fiafonou’s cousins who lives in Austin, said in a GoFundMe that police were “harassing” Fiafonou “and eventually murdered him.” He also said Fiafonou “was walking home praying out loud to himself” on Dec. 22 when officers with the Austin Police Department stopped him for being loud and harrased [sic] him and followed him his whole way home, instead of helping him because he has a mental disorder.”

27. Alhaji M. Sow Source:iOne Digital Alhaji M. Sow, an 18-year-old student enrolled at the Florida Institute of Technology, was shot to death on Dec. 3, 2021, by police officers who claimed he was wielding a knife that he used to injure other students. He allegedly had a knife. The trained police officers definitely had guns. The Black teen is dead because cops couldn’t figure out a way to take him down alive.

28. Anthony Harden On Nov. 22, 2021, police in Fall River, Massachusetts, responded to a report of domestic violence by shooting and killing 30-year-old Anthony Harden in an encounter that was only being described by local media outlets as an unspecified “altercation.” Citing the local district attorney, all of the reports said a variation of what WCVB reporter Matt Reed tweeted: “at least one officer fired their gun killing Harden and that a a [sic] knife was present at the scene of the altercation.”

29. Andra Murphy Andra Murphy was killed by police in Tennessee on Oct. 6, 2021, under questionable circumstances. According to a press release, Murphy was killed in the town of Bolivar when police shot him shortly after an unidentified gunman threatened correctional officers and fled the scene. However, “many believe Murphy was not the individual who was initially at the scene,” the press release from Ben Crump, the civil rights attorney representing Murphy’s family, said in part.

30. George Watson According to the police narrative, officers responded after someone called 911 to report a man brandishing a gun on an apartment balcony. The Washington Post reported that a cop fired at George Watson when he aimed the gun at police. The 34-year-old died on the scene. Officers ultimately determined that Watson was armed with a pellet gun typically used with paintballs that does not pose any lethal threat.

31. Antwan Gilmore Antwan Gilmore was asleep in his car in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 25, 2021, when he was approached by police officers, one of whom proved once again that cops—who are celebrated in “back the blue” circles for their bravery and willingness to put their lives on the line—often open fire at the faintest sign of perceived danger. The officers found Gilmore in his car “unresponsive” with his foot on the brake while the car was running. They also said they could see a gun in his waistband. When the car begins to move forward, officers can be heard shouting “Don’t move!” and “Police!” just before the shots were fired—10 shots to be exact. After the shooting, the gun police said they observed on Gilmore’s person was still in his waistband. Opening fire on a moving vehicle goes against Metropolitan Police Department policy.

32. Robert Anderson, 38 Robert Anderson was killed in Crescent City, California, on Aug. 25, 2021, after the 38-year-old former bus driver from Detroit had a fatal encounter with California Highway Patrol and officers with the Del Norte County Sheriff’s Office. Police claim that Anderson was walking in the road with a knife in his hand. Reports mention body camera footage from multiple sources, but none was immediately released. A Facebook video post made by Anderson that morning showed he appeared distressed and was shirtless walking through the woods. A friend of Anderson’s who saw him shortly before the shooting also said he was acting strangely during their visit. The combination suggests that Anderson may have been experiencing a mental crisis when police confronted and killed him.

33. Tory Brown, 22 Police gunned down Tory Brown on the night of Aug. 24, 2021, at the Chelsea Garden Apartments in College Park, Georgia, because he allegedly had a warrant out of Clayton County for violation of probation and cops said he refused to comply with police demands to exit an apartment. No guns were found in Brown’s home, which means cops who were among a team of trained officers, none of whom were injured in the incident, felt the need to open fire on an unarmed man who did nothing more than “quickly advance towards” them.

34. Ryan LeRoux, 21 Ryan LeRoux, a 21-year-old Black man, was killed in Maryland on July 19, 2021, in a McDonald’s parking lot under questionable circumstances that cast doubt on the police narrative. Four Montgomery County police officers responded by firing a total of 24 shots at LeRoux “over the course of several seconds,” the Washington Post reported, because they said he had a gun. His father said LeRoux’s gun was legally owned. There is no evidence that LeRoux wielded the gun, let alone threatened the police with it. In fact, it’s unclear what prompted the police to use deadly force if their lives were not threatened. LeRoux’s father said he was shown about 25 minutes of bodycam video that police have said is too dark and “very difficult to see,” effectively allowing them to control the narrative of the shooting. Nevertheless, police have also said they “believe” the footage shows LeRoux brandishing the gun. “So far, they have been unable to prove to me that my son raised a gun,” Paul LeRoux said. “They have not proved to me that Ryan showed any reason to justify the amount of lethal force.” Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich has called for a full investigation into the shooting that was allegedly prompted by LeRoux refusing to move his car from the McDonald’s drive-thru. Police have said LeRoux “was not cooperative,” which ultimately led to “a use of force resulting in Mr. LeRoux behind [sic] shot by the officers.”

35. Leneal Frazier, 40 Source:Getty Leneal Lamont Frazier was killed early morning on July 6, 2021, during a high-speed police pursuit in which he was not a suspect. But a Minneapolis police car chasing an alleged robbery suspect crashed into Frazier’s car, sending him to a hospital where he soon died from injuries sustained from the collision. The family of Frazier, whose niece is Darnella Frazier, the teenager who filmed the video of Chauvin murdering Floyd, retained civil rights attorney Ben Crump and have demanded accountability for the “irresponsible” killing caused directly by the police.

36. Demetrius Stanley, 31 Law enforcement in San Jose, California, released the video footage of Demetrius Stanley‘s fatal shooting, a 31-year-old Black man who was killed on May 31, 2021, Memorial Day. Police claim they were conducting surveillance on Stanley’s home related to an armed robbery Stanley was reportedly involved in earlier this spring. Law enforcement officials say Stanley approached the officer’s unmarked vehicle and pointed his gun at the cops who were in plainclothes. Stanley’s family and supporters say that Stanley was protecting his home and family members after police failed to ID themselves in the unmarked vehicle, parked outside of his home. Community members have marched in the streets asking for transparency and accountability.

37. Ashton Pinke, 27 The Mesquite Police Department in Texas shot and killed Ashton Pinke on May 4 following what his family lawyer says should have been a wellness check by authorities. Instead, police claimed the 27-year-old Pinke charged at them “with a knife and a club,” purportedly leaving the officers no choice but to shoot to kill.

38. Andrew Brown, 42 Andrew Brown, of Elizabeth City, North Carolina, was killed on April 21 as Pasquotank County Sheriff’s deputies attempted to serve a search warrant. Brown, who was unarmed and a father of 10, reportedly drove away in his car when police fired a total of six to eight shots. Brown’s family says that he did not hurt anyone prior to him being shot. Brown’s killing came one day after the guilty verdict in the murder of George Floyd and the shooting of Ma’Khia Wright, a 16-year-old girl in Columbus, Ohio.

39. Matthew Williams, 35 Matthew Williams was killed by police on April 12, 2021, because he had a knife. However, Williams’ family rejects that narrative and has demanded the release of bodycam footage to verify police claim. Williams died in his own home from the shooting. The lawyer representing the family said the police are actively engaged in trying “to cover up killing a man in his own home.” Local news outlet 11Alive reported that a witness said Williams was not armed with a knife when he was shot. One of Williams’s five sisters said the police narrative is totally out of character for her brother. “My brother was not violent. My brother was not confrontational,” Chyah Williams said. “He was the most caring, giving, selfless person you could ever meet.”

40. Daunte Wright, 20 Source:Twitter/@MeritLaw Wright was killed on April 11, 2021, after officers pulled him over for displaying air fresheners on his rear-view mirror a traffic violation in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. Police claim that after stopping Wright, they discovered a warrant for his arrest. When they attempted to detain him they claim that Wright hopped back into his car where an officer fired, fatally wounding him. The officer, Kim Potter, claimed she confused her Taser for her gun and meant to stun Wright instead of killing him. Potter was allowed to resign on her own terms before being arrested and charged with second-degree manslaughter, a charge that carries up to 10 years in prison.

41. Marvin D. Scott III, 26 Source:GoFundMe Marvin Scott III was a 26-year-old Black man who died in police custody in Texas.

42. Kurt Reinhold, 42 Source:Getty Reinhold was shot to death on Sept. 23, 2020 after Orange County Deputies approached him, accusing him of jaywalking.

43. McHale Rose, 19 McHale Rose, 19, was shot and killed by police in Indianapolis on May 7, 2020, after officers responded to reports of a burglary that later turned out to be untrue. The police claimed that as they arrived, they were shot at. When they returned fire, Rose was fatally struck. A prosecutor later declined to bring charges against the officers involved because they were deemed to have been defending themselves. Read the full report here.

44. Xzavier Hill, 18 Source:Change.org 18-year-old Xzavier Hill was shot and killed by Virginia State Troopers on Jan. 9 in what police claim to be a high speed pursuit on Interstate 64. Hill’s family are advocating for the release of dashcam footage which they believe conflict the police’s account of the chain of events. Police claim that Hill refused to exit the vehicle to display his hands, accusing him of brandishing a weapon that resulted in the troopers firing the fatal shot.

45. Frederick Cox, 18 Source:Facebook/Tenicka Shannon Frederick Cox, an 18-year-old teen from High Point, North Carolina was was fatally shot by police while attending a funeral in Nov. 2020.

46. Patrick Warren Sr. Source:Patrick Warren Jr. Patrick Warren Sr. was killed on Jan. 10 after an officer responded to his family’s attempt to contact mental health professionals when they noticed his behavior changing at their home in Killeen, Texas. After the family called authorities for help and were told that a mental health worker was not available, a police officer was sent to Warren’s home instead. Warren met the officers at the front door before he asked them to leave. When the officer “refused,” Warren’s family came to the door to see him being Tasered on the ground. That’s when one of the officers shot Warren, aimed the gun at Warren’s wife, then shot Warren again, according to the press release. It was unclear how many times Warren was shot, but it was at least twice.

47. Carl Dorsey III, 39 Dorsey was shot and killed on Jan. 1, 2021 in South Orange, New Jersey, during a police confrontation. Little details are known regarding what led to the shooting. The state attorney general’s office has launched an investigation.

48. Dolal Idd, 23 Source:GoFundMe Dolal Idd was the first police involved death in Minneapolis since George Floyd. Police claim Idd was pulled over as a felony suspect during a traffic stop on Wednesday. He died of multiple gunshot wounds after police say he fired at officers. His manner of death is homicide, according to a news release obtained by CNN. Idd’s death stirred up community concern due to the ongoing deaths of Black people at the hands of police, along with his family disputing the police’s account of events.

49. Andre’ Hill, 47 Andre’ Hill was shot and killed by Officer Adam Coy in Columbus, Ohio, on Dec. 22, 2020 while holding a cell phone. Hill is the second Black man fatally shot by city police just weeks after the tragic shooting of Casey Goodson Jr., who was killed while holding a sandwich. His case is of significance due to the fact that Coy turned off his body camera leading up to the shooting and then switched it back on directly after. City officials and activists are calling for his termination although he has been placed on temporary paid leave.

50. Joshua Feast Joshua Feast was killed in Texas by La Marque Police Officer Jose Santos on Dec. 9, 2020. Santos shot Feast in the back while the 22-year-old Black man was running away. Santos has been involved with at least one other incident of “brutalizing” a different young Black man. The La Marque Police Department was immediately hesitant to release Sants’ bodycam footage as community residents demanding the firings of Santos and the police chief.

51. Maurice Gordon Source:Mercury LLC Maurice Gordon was shot and killed by a New Jersey State Trooper during a traffic stop on May 22, 2020, just days before George Floyd‘s brutal killing. Despite efforts to inform the police on multiple occasions that Gordon may be experiencing mental health issues, the 28-year-old Black man was somehow shot six times following a physical struggle that included Gordon being pepper-sprayed before he was killed. The officer has provided conflicting accounts of the shooting that was being investigated by the New Jersey Attorney General’s office. An online petition is demanding Sgt. Randall Wetzel is charged for killing Gordon.

52. Casey Goodson Jr. Source:Walton + Brown, LLP Casey Goodson Jr. “was shot and killed as he unlocked his door and entered his home” in Franklin County, Ohio, on Dec. 4. A Franklin County Sheriff’s deputy working with US Marshals shot Goodson, but the 23-year-old Black man “was not a target of that task force, according to Walton + Brown, LLP, the law firm representing his family. Police claim Goodson was brandishing a gun, but he was legally licensed to carry a concealed gun in an open-carry state. Goodson “Casey was shot and killed as he unlocked his door and entered his home. His death was witnessed by his 72-year-old Grandmother and two toddlers who were near the door,” Walton + Brown, LLP wrote in its press release about the shooting.

53. Rodney Applewhite Source:Ben Crump Rodney Applewhite, 25, was shot and killed by New Mexico State Police after a traffic stop, claiming Applewhite fled the scene and attempted to disarm a police officer. His family say they’ve received little to no information regarding his Nov. 19 death, and are looking for transparency in the case. Applewhite was travelling to Arizona to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with his family. Prior to his death Applewhite was on the path to reforming his life, working two jobs while on probation.

54. A.J. Crooms A.J. Crooms, 16, was a passenger in a car that police tried to pull over on Nov. 13 in Cocoa, Florida. When the driver tried to drive around squad cars from the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office, officers fired at the car at close range, killing Crooms and Sincere Pierce, the 18-year-old driver. Dashcam footage from the scene suggested there was never a direct threat to the officers’ lives, which left unanswered questions about their decision to use lethal force.

55. Sincere Pierce Sincere Pierce, 18, was driving in Cocoa, Florida, when police tried to pull him over about “a possible stolen car.” Dashcam video shows the car tried to drive around Brevard County Office squad cars when officers fired multiple times at close range, killing both Pierce and 16-year-old passenger A.J. Crooms on Nov. 13. The dashcam footage suggested the officers’ lives were not directly threatened and didn’t call for the use of lethal force.

56. Walter Wallace Jr. Walter Wallace Jr., a 27-year-old father, was suffering from mental illness when police killed him in broad daylight on a street in Philadelphia on Oct. 26, 2020. After his family called for help, police responded and shot him dead in less than a minute after arriving. His killing was recorded on video by a bystander and showed Wallace holding a kitchen knife and ignoring officers’ orders to drop it. However, Wallace was not within striking distance of the officers and didn’t appear to threaten their lives. Still, officers opened fire and shot at Wallace at least 12 times.

57. Marcellis Stinnette, teen killed by police in Waukegan, Illinois Source:Twitter Marcellis Stinnette, 19, was killed Oct. 20, 2020, in the Illinois city of Waukegan after police claimed the car he was a passenger in reversed toward the officer who shot them. However, witnesses said the police officer hit them with his car before he opened fire. The shooting injured his girlfriend, Tafara Williams, 20, who was driving at the time.

58. Jonathan Price Jonathan Price, 31, was killed the night of Oct. 3, 2020, at a gas station in Wolfe City, Texas, after he stopped to intervene in a domestic dispute between a woman and man. Texas Rangers said Price resisted in a “non-threatening posture and began walking away” when Officer Shaun Lucas first fired his stun gun and then fatally shot his firearm fat Price. An affidavit said Price tried to shake Lucas’ hand before he was shot to death. Lucas has since been fired, arrested and charged with first-degree murder.

59. Deon Kay

60. Daniel Prude

61. Damian Daniels

62. Dijon Kizzee

63. Trayford Pellerin Source:GoFundMe Trayford Pellerin was killed in Louisiana after the Lafayette Police Department responded to a disturbance at a convenience store on the night of Aug. 21, 2020, according to a news release from the Louisiana State Police. The incident allegedly involved someone armed with a knife. When cops arrived, Pellerin was in the parking lot before “he fled the scene and a foot pursuit ensued.” Cops then tried in vain to Taser him. When Pellerin tried to enter the convenience store, cops drew their guns and shot him. Pellerin was shot multiple times and the whole incident was captured in a graphic video.

64. David McAtee The Louisville Metropolitan Police Department and the National Guard killed David McAtee while the businessman was attending a protest against police violence inspired by the in-custody killing of George Floyd. Read more about his life and police’s preventable shooting by clicking here.

65. Natosha “Tony” McDade Natosha “Tony” McDade was killed on May 27, 2020, when officers from the Tallahassee Pice Department opened fire for allegedly having a gun pointed at them. The identities of the cops involved in McDade’s shooting continue to be shielded by the Tallahassee courts due to a questionable application of Marsy’s law, a 2018 constitutional amendment designed to expand the rights of crime victims.

66. George Floyd George Floyd died May 25, 2020, after a police officer in Minneapolis kneeled on the neck of the 46-year-old handcuffed man who was lying face down on a street. The entire episode was recorded on video by one of many bystanders who heard Floyd tell police he couldn’t breathe, repeated pleas that went ignored. The four responding officers involved were fired as protesters demanded they also be charged with Floyd’s murder.

67. Yassin Mohamed A police officer in Georgia shot and killed Yassin Mohamed on May 9 in the city of Claxton. A press release from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) seemed to blame the shooting on Mohamed, who was accused of throwing rocks at a deputy from the Evans County Sheriff’s Office. According to the press release, in the hours before the shooting, Mohamed “attacked an officer with a pipe, as well as attacked an ambulance.” When the deputy who killed him responded to another call about Mohamed being “on foot in the middle of the road,” the press release says Mohamed threw rocks at the deputy. “Mohamed then charged the deputy with a larger rock at which point the deputy discharged his firearm, striking Mohamed,” the press released said. Mohamed died at the scene at the age of 47. The GBI has stated that it would turn its investigation over to the district attorney once completed. Until then, no charges can be filed in the death of Mr. Mohammed and it remains unclear if the police involved in the shooting is still on active duty.

68. Finan H. Berhe Finan H. Berhe was shot and killed by a Montgomery County Police Department officer on May 8 in White Oak, Maryland. He was 30 years old. Hours after the shooting, the Montgomery Police Department identified the police office who fatally shot Finan H. Berhe as Sgt. David Cohen and released a 30-second video of the shooting recorded from a police officer’s bodycam. While the investigation continues into the shooting of Finan H. Berhe, Sgt. David Cohen remains on paid administrative leave.

69. Sean Reed Source:Twitter Sean Reed‘s death on May 6, 2020, was live-streamed on Facebook during a footrace running away from police, who Tasered and shot and killed the unarmed 21-year-old Black man who was also a U.S. military veteran. With the Facebook Live still recording, police can be heard joking about how Reed would need a “closed casket” funeral.

70. Steven Demarco Taylor Source:S. Lee Merritt The death of Steven Demarco Taylor, who was holding a baseball bat and having a manic episode when he was tasered multiple times and fatally shot inside a California Walmart on April 18, 2020, was captured on video by a bystander. The lawyer for the family of Taylor — who was only 33 years old and a father of three — claims the shooting was “excessive” since officers had already Tasered him.

71. Ariane McCree Source:The Herald/YouTube Ariane McCree was shot and killed by two Chester Police officers in South Carolina after being detained for allegedly shoplifting at a Walmart on Nov. 23. Police claimed that the 28-year-old was placed in custody, then fled and showed officers a gun. However, the family of McCree, who have filed a wrongful death lawsuit, claims that he was “handcuffed, with his hands behind his back, when he was fatally shot.”

72. Terrance Franklin Terrance Franklin was fatally shot by Minneapolis Police’s SWAT team in 2013 after suspecting that he was involved in a burglary. Officers and officials claim that Franklin tried to wrestle a M5 rifle from one of the officers. However, in a 2014 lawsuit filed by Franklin’s father, the family claims that he had already surrendered and had his hands up. Nearly six years later, the Minneapolis City Council approved a $796,000 settlement with Terrance Franklin’s family.

73. Miles Hall Source:KRON4 Miles Hall, a 23-year-old man who suffered from mental illness, was fatally shot by Walnut Creek Police in San Francisco on June 2, 2019. Hall’s family claims they called the police because he was behaving erratically, while running outside with a metal pole. Instead of deescalating the situation using crisis intervention training, which the officers have received, the man was fatally wounded. The family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit.

74. Darius Tarver Source:S. Lee Merritt Darius Tarver, a 23-year-old University of North Texas student, was shot and killed by police in Denton, Texas, on Jan. 21 during a confrontation at an apartment complex. According to the cops, Tarver was approached by responding officers after residents called 911 about a guy who was banging on doors and yelling for someone to let him in. “Tarver’s father, a McKinney Police Department chaplain was allowed to see the bodycam from the shooting and believes it sharply contradicts official narratives,” civil rights attorney S. Lee Merritt said.

75. William Green Green was reportedly pulled over for driving erratically, handcuffed and placed in the front seat of a police cruiser in Prince George’s County, Maryland, on the night of Jan. 27 before a police officer entered the car and shot him while he was restrained by the cuffs as well as a seat belt. Police have tried to criminalize him as a suspected drug user, but either way Green was already restrained when police shot him, meaning there is no way cops could have feared for their lives before deciding to shoot him. This is America.

76. Samuel David Mallard, 19 When cops went to serve a warrant to Samuel David Mallard at his home, the 19-year-old reportedly fled before officers stopped he vehicle and “Issued verbal command,” according to a press release from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. What came next, though, was unclear — except for the part where four police officers all fired shots at Mallard, who local news outlets said vaguely “did not cooperate” with law enforcement. Conveniently, the GBI also announced that “a gun was found in Mallard’s vehicle,” although there were no reports that alleged gun ever posed a threat to the lives of the officers involved.

77. Kwame “KK” Jones, 17 Source:facebook Kwame “KK” Jones was killed by police after he and a friend were stopped while driving in a car in Jacksonville, Florida, on Jan. 5, 2020. Police said that an officer approached the car and “an exchange” ensued. The cop then fired his weapon several times, striking both Jones and the other unidentified male, who survived the shooting. Jones did not. Police claim there was a rifle in the car, which Jones’ family said was suspicious since the photo evidence is “of a gun that has already been booked into evidence and not a photo from the scene.”

78. De’von Bailey, 19 The 19-year-old was shot in the back by police on Aug. 3. In November of 2019, a grand jury unanimously decided to not indict the two police officers who shot him.

79. Christopher Whitfield, 31 The unarmed Louisiana man was shot and killed by police after he was accused of stealing raw chicken. Whitfield struggled with mental health issues.

80. Anthony Hill, 26 Anthony Hill, an Air Force veteran, was unarmed and naked when he was killed at 26 years old in March of 2015. Former officer Robert Olsen was found guilty of aggravated assault, one count of making false statements and two counts of violation of oath by a public officer — but not murder or manslaughter.

81. De’Von Bailey, 19 De’Von Bailey was only 19 years old when he was shot and killed by Colorado Springs police on Aug. 3. Police claimed he was reaching for a gun, which has not been proven.

82. Eric Logan, 54 Eric Logan was killed June 16, 2019, in South Bend, Indiana, where presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg is mayor. Sgt. Ryan O’Neill said he was responding to a call that someone was breaking into cars before he claimed Logan threatened him with a knife. O’Neill did not activate his body camera during the encounter, which is against city policy. Logan’s family announced they sued the city and O’Neill. The lawsuit claimed O’Neill violated Logan’s civil rights in several ways, including using excessive force with willfulness and reckless indifference and subjecting him to “unlawful treatment on the basis of race.” The lawsuit also blamed the city for not properly training, supervising, controlling and disciplining officers. The family alleged the city also violated the constitutional rights of residents on a “regular basis” by rarely investigating wrongdoing by officers.

83. Jamarion Robinson, 26 Jamarion Robinson was killed by police in East Point, Georgia, in August of 2016. He was shot 76 times after refusing to open the door of his girlfriend’s home when officers knocked. Police then kicked in the door and began firing.

84. Gregory Hill Jr., 30 Gregory Hill Jr. was killed in a matter of seconds after police shot him in his own garage in Fort Pierce, Florida, on Jan. 14, 2014. Reports said local residents called police with a noise complaint because of the loud music being played in the garage. When Hill opened the garage and saw it was police, he tried to close it before police shot him in the head and elsewhere. Hill’s family has maintained he was unarmed when he was shot. The family of Gregory Hill was awarded a grand total of four cents after a federal jury concluded in 2019 that the police involved in the shooting did not use excessive force.

85. JaQuavion Slaton, 20 JaQuavion Slaton was killed in a hail of as many as 10 shots in Fort Worth, Texas, on June 11, 2019. Officers claimed Slaton had a gun but had not provided any proof.

86. Ryan Twyman, 24 On June 6, 2019, Ryan Twyman was reportedly unarmed inside a parked car when he was shot 37 times by the Los Angeles Sheriff’s department.

87. Brandon Webber, 20 On June 12, Brandon Webber was reportedly shot 20 times U. S. Marshalls in his family’s yard in Memphis, Tennessee. He was only 20 years old.

88. Jimmy Atchison, 21 On Jan. 22, 21-year-old Jimmy Atchison was shot and killed by police officer Sung Kim. Police allegedly entered an apartment complex with military assault-style rifles to execute a run-of-the-mill warrant for robbery.

89. Willie McCoy, 20 On February 9, 2019, Willie McCoy fell asleep at a drive through in Vallejo, California. When police approached him, he was shot 25 times. Police claimed there was a gun in his lap. His lawyer told The New York Times shortly after the shooting, “He was just riddled with bullets. It was really a shock how many times he was actually struck.”

90. Emantic “EJ” Fitzgerald Bradford Jr., 21 Emantic “EJ” Fitzgerald Bradford Jr. was shot by police while trying to save people from a shooter at an Alabama mall. The military veteran was killed on Thanksgiving night.

91. D’ettrick Griffin, 18 On Jan. 15, the 18-year-old was reportedly attempting to steal a car from a police officer who wasn’t in uniform. He reportedly slid into the driver’s seat the cop was pumping gas. Griffin tried to drive away and the officer filed multiple shots. There was no weapon on Griffin.

92. Jemel Roberson, 26 Source:false The 26-year-old was reportedly gunned down by cops when he was trying to save people from a mass shooter on November 11, 2018 in Oak Lawn, Illinois.

93. DeAndre Ballard, 23 Source:false On Sept 18, 2018, the N.C. Central University student was fatally shot on campus by a security guard with the N.C. Detective Agency. The guard claimed he shot the unarmed 23-year-old in self defense.

94. Botham Shem Jean, 26 Source:false Botham Shem Jean was killed on Sept. 6, 2018, when off-duty police officer Amber Guyger entered his home and shot him to death in Dallas. Her excuse: She said she thought it was her apartment. She was later charged with manslaughter three days after the shooting.

95. Antwon Rose Jr., 17 Source:false On June 19, in Pittsburgh, 17-year-old Antwon Rose was shot and killed by Officer Michael H. Rosfeld during a traffic stop. He would have been 18 on July 12.

96. Robert Lawrence White, 41 Source:false On June 11, Robert Lawrence White was fatally shot in Silver Spring, Maryland. A minutes-long confrontation ensued between Montgomery County Police Department officer Anand Badgujar over a “suspicious” person reported in the area. White, who was unarmed, began walking away from the scene the officer fired several rounds and Lawrence was killed.

97. Anthony Lamar Smith, 24 Source:Getty Anthony Lamar Smith was shot and killed in December 2011 by former St. Louis police officer Jason Stockley after a car chase. Stockley’s acquittal in September 2017 sparked protests.

98. Ramarley Graham, 18 Source:Getty Ramarley Graham was unarmed when New York City police officer Richard Haste — who chased Graham into his Bronx home during an alleged drug bust gone awry — shot and killed him in front of his grandmother and little brother in his bathroom on Feb. 2, 2012.

99. Manuel Loggins Jr., 31 Source:Getty Manuel Loggins Jr, an unarmed U.S. Marine sergeant and married father of three, was fatally shot by a deputy after he reportedly crashed through a gate while driving an SUV with his daughters inside the vehicle at a high school parking lot in San Clemente, California during the early morning hours of Feb. 7, 2012.

100. Trayvon Martin, 17 Source:Getty Trayvon Martin was shot and killed by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman on February 26, 2012 in Sanford, Florida, sparking a movement against excessive force and police violence.

101. Wendell Allen, 20 Source:Getty Officer Joshua Colclough fired a single bullet into the chest of a shirtless and unarmed Wendell Allen during a drug raid at Allen’s home— with several children between the ages of 1 and 14 inside the house — in the Gentilly section of New Orleans on March 7, 2012.

102. Kendrec McDade, 19 Source:Getty Kendrec McDade, a local football star, was gunned down by Pasadena, California police, who responded to a report of a robbery when they pursued McDade on foot and claimed he reached toward his waistband for a weapon, on March 24, 2012.

103. Larry Jackson Jr., 32 Source:Getty On July 26, 2013, Larry Eugene Jackson Jr., a father of three, was killed by police officer Charles Kleinert who commandeered a woman’s car and chased an unarmed Jackson after an interrogation about a robbery at a bank in Austin, Texas.

104. Jonathan Ferrell, 24 Source:Getty Unarmed former Florida A&M University football player Jonathan Ferrell was fatally struck by 10 of 12 shots fired by Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer Randall “Wes” Kerrick after the cop responded to a home — where Ferrell had supposedly gone for help after a car wreck just outside of Charlotte — on Sept. 14, 2013.

105. Jordan Baker, 26 Source:Getty Jordan Baker was fatally shot on Jan. 16, 2014 by Houston, Texas police officer Juventino Castro, a Hispanic cop who was off duty but in uniform, during what his family said was a racial profiling stop at a strip mall that highlighted failures among police in training cops in the proper use of deadly force.

106. Victor White lll, 22 Source:Getty Victor White lll died while handcuffed in the back of a police car from what authorities said was a self-inflicted gunshot wound — though White’s father maintained that his son was fatally shot by police in what his attorney believed was a cover-up — outside of the Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Office in Louisiana during an alleged drug arrest in the early morning hours on March 3, 2014.

107. Dontre Hamilton, 31 Source:Getty Police officer Christopher Manney fired 14 shots and killed Dontre Hamilton, who was reportedly mentally ill, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on April 30, 2014 after responding to a call for a welfare check on a man sleeping in the park.

108. Eric Garner, 43 Source:Getty Eric Garner, a father of six, died after New York City police officer Daniel Pantaleo placed him in an apparent chokehold — a tactic prohibited by NYPD policy — as he wailed “I can’t breathe” during a videotaped arrest for allegedly selling untaxed cigarettes in Staten Island, New York on July 17, 2014.

109. John Crawford lll, 22 Source:Getty John Crawford lll was fatally shot on Aug. 5, 2014 after police responded to an emergency call about someone waving a rifle — a bb gun that Crawford carried — at a Walmart store in Beavercreek, a suburb in Dayton, Ohio.

110. Michael Brown, 18 Source:Getty Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager, was fatally shot on Aug. 9, 2014, by Darren Wilson, a white police officer, in Ferguson, Mo., a suburb of St. Louis, prompting nationwide protests and an agreement with the Department of Justice for police reforms after a blistering DOJ probe uncovered routine racist practices among police.

111. Ezell Ford, 25 Source:Getty Ezell Ford, whose family described him as mentally ill, died after he was shot multiple times by Los Angeles Police Department officers in Florence, California, on August 11, 2014.

112. Dante Parker, 36 Source:Getty Dante Parker, a father of five, died on August 12, 2014 after he was Tasered by a San Bernardino County, California, Sheriff’s Deputy, who tried to restrain him on a suspicion of trying to break into a home.

113. Kajieme Powell, 25 Source:Getty Two police officers from the St. Louis Metropolitan police fatally fired 12 shots at Kajieme Powell, a mentally ill man who was suspected of shoplifting at a convenience store, on Aug. 19, 2014, less than four miles from where police killed Michael Brown on Aug. 9, 2014.

114. Laquan McDonald, 17 Source:Getty Laquan McDonald was shot 16 times by Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke in the city’s South Side area on October 20, 2014, with police dashboard camera video of the shooting death having amplified outrage toward a beleaguered police department grappling with a reported record of collusion, cover-ups and excessive force against Blacks.

115. Akai Gurley, 28 Source:Getty Akai Gurley was fatally shot on November 20, 2014 in New York City by NYPD officer Peter Liang in a dark public housing stairwell.

116. Tamir Rice, 12 Source:Getty On Nov. 22, 2014, Tamir E. Rice was fatally shot by Cleveland police at a park outside of a recreation center after he reportedly reached for a fake pistol — an airsoft-type gun replica of a semi-automatic handgun that shot pellets — which cops mistook for a weapon.

117. Rumain Brisbon, 34 Source:Getty Police officer Mark Rine opened fire and killed Rumain Brisbon when he found Brisbon with what he claimed looked like a gun in his pocket — though the item turned out to be a bottle of painkillers according to reports — after he responded to a tip about a suspected drug deal at a north Phoenix, Arizona apartment complex on Dec. 2, 2014.

118. Jerame Reid, 36 Source:Getty Two Bridgeton, New Jersey police officers fired fatal shots at Jerame Reid, who they alleged defied orders to remain in a vehicle and stepped out of the passenger’s side, with his hands raised, during a traffic stop on Dec. 30, 2014 in a shooting death that prompted protests in the predominantly Black city.

119. Charly Keunang, 43 Source:Getty Charly Leundeu Keunang, a homeless Cameroonian national, was shot and killed by three Los Angeles police officers after supposedly reaching for a cop’s holstered gun during a struggle in the city’s skid row area on March 1, 2015 in a shooting death that garnered international attention when a Facebook video was posted.

120. Tony Robinson, 19 Source:Getty A Madison, Wisconsin cop fatally shot unarmed teen Tony Robinson seven times after the officer responded to reports of a battery at a residence and a struggle ensued between the two on March 6, 2015 — a shooting that led to protests and a sit-in at Madison City Hall.

121. Walter Scott, 50 Source:Getty Walter Scott was killed by North Charleston, South Carolina police officer Michael Slager, who fired eight shots at the father of four after having chased him on foot following a traffic stop on April 4, 2015.

122. Freddie Gray, 25 Source:Getty Freddie Gray died in Baltimore on April 19, 2015 — a week after he was arrested, dragged into a police van, restrained and suffered a spine injury during a brutal incident involving six officers that amplified police and community tensions.

123. Brendon Glenn, 29 Source:Getty Video footage captured the fatal shooting of Brendon Glenn, an unarmed homeless man, by Los Angeles police officer Clifford Proctor, a black cop who claimed Glenn attempted grabbing his gun during a struggle along the Venice beach boardwalk, on May 5, 2015 in a tragedy that fueled criticisms of police’s treatment of African-Americans.

124. Samuel DuBose, 43 Source:Getty On July 19, 2015, University of Cincinnati police officer Raymond Tensing fired a fatal shot through a car window that struck Samuel DuBose in the head during a traffic stop near the university’s campus in Ohio.

125. Christian Taylor, 19 Source:Getty Texas teenager and star football player Christian Taylor, who allegedly had marijuana and synthetic drugs in his system and acted erratically, was killed by an Arlington police officer during a suspected burglary at a car dealership on Aug. 7, 2015.

126. Jamar Clark, 24 Source:Getty After responding to a domestic dispute, Minneapolis, Minnesota police fatally shot an unarmed Jamar Clark during an altercation on Nov. 15, 2015 that spurred Black Lives Matter Minneapolis and other activists to fight using #Justice4Jamar.

127. Mario Woods, 26 Source:Getty San Francisco police reportedly fired more than 20 gunshots at Mario Woods, who cops suspected of a stabbing, during a stand-off on Dec. 2, 2015 that underscored the SFPD’s documented history of systematic racism.

128. Quintonio LeGrier, 19 Source:Getty Quintonio LeGrier, who called 911 a reported three times for help in a domestic disturbance with his father, was fatally shot by a Chicago police officer, who claimed LeGrier came out him with a baseball bat, on Dec. 26, 2015 in an alleged racially motivated shooting that also left LeGrier’s 55-year-old neighbor Bettie Jones fatally wounded.

129. Gregory Gunn, 58 Source:Getty Gregory Gunn was fatally struck by five shots fired by a white Montgomery, Alabama police officer, who claimed he looked “suspicious” while walking home from a friend’s home in the early hours of Feb. 5, 2016 — the incident shed light on several past episodes of police violence dating back decades in Montgomery.

130. Akiel Denkins, 24 Source:Getty Akiel Denkins was gunned down by a white Raleigh, North Carolina police officer during a foot chase when he attempted fleeing a drug-related arrest and allegedly pulled a handgun out on Feb. 29, 2016.

131. Alton Sterling, 37 Source:Getty Alton Sterling was shot to death on July 5, 2016 when two white officers pinned him to the pavement during an arrest outside a convenience store where he had sold CDs in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The cops weren’t charged with any crime.

132. Philando Castile, 32 Source:Getty Philando Castile, a cafeteria supervisor in St. Paul, Minnesota, was shot and killed by police officer Jeronimo Yanez during a traffic stop for a “busted tail light” in Falcon Heights on July 6, 2016, with his girlfriend Diamond Reynolds having livestreamed the horrific moments after his shooting on Facebook Live.

133. Terrence Sterling, 31 Source:Getty Terrence Sterling, a motorcyclist from Fort Washington, Maryland, was fatally shot twice in his neck and back by a Washington, D.C. police officer during the early morning on Sept. 11, 2016 after cops received a call about a motorcyclist driving recklessly in the area.

134. Terence Crutcher, 40 Source:Getty Footage from a police dashboard camera captured the moment when an unarmed Terence Crutcher was fatally shot by police officer Betty Shelby in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Sept. 16, 2016 after police reportedly received 911 calls about his stalled SUV blocking a road.

135. Keith Lamont Scott, 43 Source:Getty Keith Lamont Scott was killed by a black officer Brentley Vinson, who believed he had a gun, after exiting his SUV during a confrontation at his apartment complex in Charlotte, North Carolina on Sept. 20, 2016 in an incident that led to a governor-declared state of emergency after violent protests.

136. Alfred Olango, 38 Source:Getty Alfred Olango, an Ugandan refugee, was fatally shot during a reported “mental breakdown” by El Cajon, California police on Sept. 27, 2016 after he pulled out a vaping device in front of cops in a shopping center.

137. Jordan Edwards, 15 Source:Getty Jordan Edwards was shot in the head and killed by Balch Springs, Texas cop Roy Oliver, who fired rounds into a vehicle hitting the teen sitting in the front passenger seat after leaving a party, on April 29, 2017.

138. Stephon Clark, 22 Source:false On Sunday, March 18, 2018, Sacramento police responded to a call “that a thin, 6-foot-1 Black man wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and dark pants was hiding in a residential backyard after breaking car windows,” according to The Sacramento Bee. Just eight minutes later, officers fired over 20 times at 22-year-old Stephon Clark — in his own backyard. Reportedly, they “feared” for their lives because they saw a gun in his hand. It turned out he was only carrying a cellphone.

139. Danny Ray Thomas, 34 Source:false In March 2018, Danny Ray Thomas, 34, was arguing with another person and acting erratic when the deputy arrived at the scene. The Houston officer fired a single shot at Thomas, who died later at a hospital. Authorities claimed that Thomas had an object in his hand, but investigators did not recover a weapon.

140. DeJuan Guillory, 27 Source:false A police officer shot DeJuan Guillory On July 6, a Louisana officer Holden LaFleur shot DeJuan Guillory while he was riding an ATV with his girlfriend on a gravel road. The officer claimed he pulled them over to ask for their identification after responding to a call for an ATV theft. The officer claimed Guillory had attacked him and that the girlfriend went for his gun as he tried to make an arrest. Guillory, 27, who was unarmed, was shot dead and his girlfriend, DeQuince Brown, was later charged with the attempted first-degree murder of a police officer. Guillory was shot in the back.

141. Patrick Harmon, 50 On August 13, 2017, Patrick Harmon was shot and killed by police in Salt Lake City, Utah. The district attorney said the shooting was “legally justified.”

142. Jonathan Hart, 21 Jonathan Hart was a 21-year-old Black gay man who was homeless in the Los Angeles area. On December 4, he was reportedly shot and killed in the back by a security guard in a Walgreens. He was allegedly shoplifting, but eyewitnesses said he was not stealing.

143. Maurice Granton, 24 On June 6, Maurice Granton, 24, was reportedly unarmed when he was shot in the back and killed by police in Chicago. The police report accused Granton of producing a weapon but body cam footage appeared to show there was no weapon. The family filed a lawsuit against the Chicago police in July of 2018.

144. Julius Johnson, 23 In 2009, the unarmed 23-year-old was killed by Officer Charles Anderson who claimed he was attacked and “feared for his life.” Johnson’s sister told detectives that she heard her brother plead for his life before being killed but she was charged with lying to police and was sentenced to three months in jail. Ten years later, a KKK application was found framed in Anderson’s home.

145. Jamee Johnson, 22 Source:S. Lee Merritt Jamee Johnson, a student at the historically Black Florida A&M University, was killed by police in Jacksonville on Dec. 14, 2019, after a questionable traffic stop. Police say that Johnson was armed and tried to flee in his car, but his parents say he was legally licensed to possess a firearm in an open-carry state and that he never would have broken the law. There were no immediate charges against the officers involved and civil rights attorneys Ben Crump and S. Lee Merritt have been retained by Johnson’s family to investigate.

Editor’s Note: USA TODAY’s coverage of the FSU campus shooting continues on April 19.

TALLAHASSEE, FL – The two men killed in the mass shooting at Florida State University have been identified by family members and close friends.

The fatal victims of the April 17 attack include Tiru Chabba, a 45-year-old father and executive for campus vendor Aramark, and Robert Morales, a beloved high school football coach who worked in the university’s dining services department.

Chabba, of Greenville, South Carolina, was the regional vice president of Aramark Collegiate Hospitality, according to his LinkedIn page. He is survived by his wife and two children, according to a law firm hired by his family.

Morales, a Miami native who was admired as a “trusted coach” and “cherished friend,” was identified in a post on X by his brother. “Today we lost my younger Brother, He was one of the victims killed at FSU. He loved his job at FSU and his beautiful Wife and Daughter. I’m glad you were in my Life,” the post said.

Six people, including students, were injured in the attack and sent to a local hospital. They are all expected to fully recover, Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare officials said.

Police have identified the suspect as 20-year-old Phoenix Ikner, the stepson of a veteran Leon County sheriff’s deputy. Officials say Ikner, a student at the university, opened fire near the student union around lunchtime, sending students running for shelter and barricading themselves in buildings around campus.

Campus police responded to the scene and shot Ikner, who was taken into custody and later taken to a hospital for treatment, Tallahassee Police Chief Lawrence Revell said. Investigators believe Ikner carried out the attack with his stepmother’s former service weapon, which was found at the scene.

Shooter had Nazi, Hitler fascination

Screenshots of Ikner’s online history captured by the Anti-Defamation League and shared with USA TODAY show the gunman was an active gamer who had a troubling fascination with Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany.

A profile photo for an online gaming account linked to Ikner shows a drawing of Hitler – recognizable by the mustache – with the word “Nein” in a thought bubble next to the infamous dictator.

For another online account, Ikner used the name “Schutzstaffel,” the name of the paramilitary group that started out as Hitler’s personal bodyguard and was eventually entrusted with leading the execution of the Holocaust.

“Neither one means anything in particular but they’re part of the broader story,” Carla Hill, a senior director of investigative research at the anti-hate group’s center on extremism, said of Ikner’s apparent fascination with Nazis. “It gives us a little more insight into what he’s thinking about and curious about.”

Hill said a team of about 20 researchers combed through Ikner’s activity after he was identified as the shooter.

Other troubling signs, according to the ADL, include internet searches of the terms “scientific racism” and “national confederate flag.” The ADL collected the screenshots showing the searches from Ikner’s frequent livestreams.

Another account linked to Ikner used the symbol for Patriot Front, the leading White nationalist group in the U.S. that formed in the aftermath of the white supremacist rallies in Charlottesville, Virginia, that left a person dead, according to Hill.

“It’s just concerning,” said Hill. “What we’re seeing – if in fact this individual has extremist views and it seems at the very least he was exposed to extremism – is the continued crossover between extremism and the glorification of violence that eventually leads to violence.”

Charges announced, shooter to spend ‘significant’ time in hospital

Among the people sent to the hospital in the wake of the shooting was gunman Phoenix Ikner.

Tallahassee Police Department Chief Lawrence Revell said officers had responded and taken down the gunman within minutes of the first shot ringing out at 11:56 or 11:57 a.m.

Ikner “did receive significant injuries” when he was taken down by law enforcement and will require “a significant amount of time” in a local hospital, the Florida police chief said.

“Once he is released from that facility, he’ll be taken to a local detention facility, where he will face the charges up to and including first-degree murder,” Revell said.

Revell also released more details about Ikner, saying there didn’t appear to be any connection between himself and the people he shot.

A random rampage? Alleged FSU shooter charged after five minutes of terror

– Jeff Burlew, Tallahassee Democrat

FSU mourns: ‘You’re not alone’

Florida State University students, faculty, and community members gathered for a vigil Friday to honor victims of the shooting on campus. Vigil planners expected a crowd of over 2,000 people to attend.

“There is no manual on how we feel when something like this happens. I’m angry, you’re angry…. I’m completely numb. Some of you are scared. I understand that,” said university president Richard McCullough, choking back tears. “All those feelings are normal. There’s no right response to tragedy. But I want to be clear — you’re not alone.”

“We are here for you. FSU is a family. We grieve together, we remind ourselves that we belong to a community that deeply loves Florida State University and shows up at hard times.”

All classes at the Tallahassee campus were canceled for April 18 and all athletic events were canceled through April 20 as the investigation continues.

Victim’s family hires attorney to hold those responsible ‘to account’

Chabba’s family hired national civil rights attorney Bakari Sellers of The Strom Law Firm and Jim Bannister to represent them. In a news release, the attorneys said they were hired “to ensure that all those who bear responsibility for this senseless act of violence are held to account.”

“Tiru Chabba’s family is going through the unimaginable now,” Sellers said. “Instead of hiding Easter eggs and visiting with friends and family, they’re living a nightmare where this loving father and devoted husband was stolen from them in an act of senseless and preventable violence.”

The lawyers also asked the public to keep the family in their thoughts and prayers “as we fight to ensure they see justice that honors the memories of Mr. Chabba and all the victims of Thursday’s shooting.”

Tallahassee police release timeline of FSU shooting

Phoenix Ikner waited in an FSU parking garage for nearly an hour before going on a shooting rampage that lasted less than five minutes, a new timeline released by the Tallahassee Police Department shows.

At 11 a.m. on April 17, Ikner arrived at the garage. He stayed in the area for a while, moving in and out of the vehicle.

At 11:51 a.m., he left the parking lot. Between five and six minutes later, the first shot was fired, police said. “Ikner walks in and out of the buildings and green spaces, firing a handgun,” police said.

By 11:58 a.m., multiple 911 calls reported a male was actively shooting on campus. At the same time, nearby police officers began responding. By noon, the threat was over. “The suspect is shot by responding officers and taken into custody,” police said.

FSU shooting timeline: Over in less than 5 minutes, Tallahassee police say

Suspect practiced shooting with his stepmom, a longtime sheriff’s deputy

Jessica Ikner, a school resource deputy, previously brought her stepson, Phoenix Ikner, to a firing range to practice shooting, Leon County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Shonda Knight told the Tallahassee Democrat, part of the USA TODAY Network.

Knight said the shooting practice “was not in an official capacity” and was to make sure “he knew the proper handling of a weapon for safety purposes.”

Ikner, a beloved Raa Middle School student resource deputy, was law enforcement officer of the year in 2023 for the Leon County Sheriff’s Office.

Since the shooting, Ikner requested personal leave, which the sheriff’s office granted, Knight said. She will also be reassigned from the school to the property crimes division due to the “sensitivity of the matter and to make sure she is properly acclimated under the circumstances,” Knight said.

– William Hatfield

Friends describe Morales as a ‘great guy’ and ‘family man’

Aside from his dining service work, Morales was a long-time special teams coach for Leon High School’s football program and a partner in local favorite Gordos Cuban Cuisine.

“He was a trusted coach, a respected colleague, and a cherished friend to many” the school’s athletic department said in a statement. “The loss of Coach Morales is felt deeply by all of us at Leon High School, especially during this difficult and tragic time.”

Gordo’s owner, Eddie Argamonte, told the Tallahassee Democrat, “While it has been a long time since we worked together, my heart breaks for all the family and friends of Robert Morales.”

Current Lions Athletic Director and former assistant football coach Riley Bell coached with Morales and he described him as a having a “big heart.” He said Morales spent about six to eight years with the program and was a “valuable” member of the team.

“A great guy. Good heart, family man,” Bell said. “Just full of energy and very happy.”

– Elena Barrera, Tallahassee Democrat

‘A punch in the gut,’ says former Parkland mayor

Florida state Representative Christine Hunschofsky was mayor of Parkland, Florida, when a shooter killed 17 people at the city’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. News of the shooting in Tallahassee broke on Thursday when she was about to present a bill expanding school safety measures enacted in the wake of Parkland.

Another official interrupted her to say that there was a “law enforcement incident” at FSU and to avoid the campus.

“I can’t believe this is happening again,” Hunschofsky said she thought as she stood at the lectern. The news hit the Democratic representative “like a punch in the gut.”

Video footage of the meeting shows a subdued Hunschofsky softly speaking, straining not to get emotional.

She asked lawmakers to support allowing county sheriffs to train school guards for private schools. It passed out of committee unanimously.

“The trauma everybody is going through breaks my heart,” Hunschofsky said in an interview. “If it is not dealt with, it will become a long-term problem.”

– James Call, USA Today Florida Network

Records: Phoenix Ikner changed his name after parents’ custody battle

Court records reviewed by the Tallahassee Democrat, part of the USA TODAY Network, show Phoenix Ikner legally changed his name after his parents split and his mother took him to Norway against court orders, an incident he later described as “tragic.”

He was born Christian Gunnar Eriksen, the son of a Tallahassee man and a Miami woman who had dual Norwegian citizenship. The couple lived together with their son for more than three years before splitting. In 2015, his mother took her son to Norway against court orders and was later arrested and sentenced to 200 days in jail on a charge of removing a minor from the state during a custody proceeding.

“Beginning around 2017 he decided he wanted a fresh start in his life and a new name was part of that fresh start,” Administrative Magistrate James Banks wrote in a report recommending the name change. “He chose the name Phoenix because of its representation of rising from the ashes anew and the name of Ikner because that is his father’s name.”

The magistrate said that Ikner “attended counseling to help him cope with these past events.” His mother did not approve of the name change, leading to more court clashes between Ikner’s parents. In October 2020, Leon Circuit Judge J. Layne Smith adopted the magistrate’s report, making the name change official.

Florida State University to host vigil for victims Friday

The university plans to hold a vigil for the victims at 5 p.m. April 18, at Langford Green in front of the university’s football stadium.

All classes on the main Florida State University campus were canceled Friday, and people were advised to avoid the student union and other nearby buildings as investigations continue.

FBI opens tip line, begins receiving information on FSU shooting

The FBI has set begun receiving information about the mass shooting at FSU through a digital tip line.

“The FBI does not typically release investigative details, like tips or leads, however we can confirm that information is being received via the digital media tips page at www.fbi.gov/fsushooting, and each tip is being thoroughly reviewed and vetted for authenticity,” the bureau’s Jacksonville office said in a statement.

Anyone with video or audio media related to the incident, can upload it here.

‘We’re all together in this’

In the hours after the shooting, students, faculty and others mourned together at a makeshift memorial on a sidewalk not far from where the rampage took place. Eddie Burnham, a first-year student and finance major, was among those drawn back to the scene after barricading in a building earlier in the day. He left flowers and a Seminole flag.

“I just want to just display Seminole pride,” the 18-year-old Burnham said with tears streaming down his cheeks. “We’re all Seminoles, we’re all together in this. We’re all going to uplift each other and we’re all going to get through this tough time together.”

FSU junior Hayden Tyler was in her apartment during the shooting, but feared for her sister, also a student at the university and hunkering down in a classroom for hours. Even though Tyler’s sister was safe, she was still moved to bring flowers and pray. “You didn’t have to know the people to feel for them,” Tyler said.

– Mollye Barrows and Brittany Misencik, the Pensacola News Journal

Florida State University president: ‘We are heartbroken’

Florida State University President Richard McCullough said in a statement that he is mourning the victims of the deadly mass shooting.

Today, we experienced a tragic and senseless act of violence at the heart of our campus,” McCullough wrote in a post on X, adding, “We are heartbroken. We are grieving with the families, friends, and loved ones of those who were lost. We are holding close those who are injured, and we are standing by everyone who is hurting.”

What happened at FSU

The gunman began firing near the student union building at about 11:50 a.m. on April 17, authorities said. Within minutes, a massive law enforcement response was heard around downtown Tallahassee as officers raced to the scene.

FSU sent a text to the campus community warning of an active shooter. “Continue to seek shelter and await further instructions. Lock and stay away from all doors and windows and be prepared to take additional protective measures,” the text said.

Campus police arrived “almost immediately” and shot the suspect when he didn’t respond to commands to surrender, Revell said.

The suspect “remains hospitalized with serious but non-life-threatening injuries,” Revell said on April 17. “As of this evening, the crime scenes have been processed.”

FSU SHOOTING TIMELINE: See how the mass shooting unfolded

FSU students describe chaos, fear during shooting

Will Schatz, an FSU senior, was in the Strozier Library on campus about noon with friends when he saw people running. He ran with them, exiting the back of the library at West Call Street and Dewey Street.

“When I got out, I heard seven to eight gunshots. I’m not sure if that was the shooter shooting or if the cops shot the shooter,” Schatz told the Tallahassee Democrat.

He called his mother right after he got out of the library to tell her he was OK and what happened. Since then, he said he saw four students loaded into ambulances and taken away.

Swartz, the student who hid in the student union basement, and Sean Gulledg described relying on knowledge active shooter training when they set up their makeshift barricade. It took about 10 minutes for them to be found by law enforcement, but it felt a lot longer, Gulledg said.

“I remember learning to do the best you can to make them take time because they don’t want to do anything that takes time, they’re just trying to get as many people,” Swartz said.

Gulledg, a resident assistant, said they train for these situations, but never thought they’d have to use them. “I trusted the training,” he said.

FSU junior Angel Dejesus said his class hid in a smaller room within the classroom he was in with the doors locked at the College of Business building adjacent to the student union.

Dejesus said he was studying for a final exam that he had in an hour trying to drown out the chaos, but it got “much more serious” when a student who lived through the Parkland shooting entered the room.

“He was like, ‘Man, I never thought this would happen again,’“ Dejesus said.

Handgun belonged to suspect’s stepmother, a deputy

Authorities said Ikner used a handgun that was formerly his stepmother’s service weapon. Police officials previously described her as Ikner’s mother.

When she received a new weapon to use in work duties, the old one became a “personal handgun,” Revell said.

A shotgun was also found, but it wasn’t immediately clear if it was also used, officials said.

Ikner’s stepmother was a longtime deputy with the Leon County Sheriff’s Office and had worked there for 18 years, said Sheriff Walt McNeil. Ikner had also been a member of the Leon County Sheriff’s Office Youth Advisory Council, McNeil said.

“He has been steeped in the Leon County Sheriff’s Office family, engaged in a number of training programs that we have,” the sheriff said. “So it’s not a surprise to us that he had access to weapons.”

Who is Phoenix Ikner? Suspect espoused radical ideas

The news that Ikner was the suspected gunman horrified people who knew him, but they said they weren’t shocked given things he had said publicly.

“I got into arguments with him in class over how gross the things he said were,” Lucas Luzietti, a politics student who shared a class with Ikner at Tallahassee Community College before he transferred, told USA TODAY.

According to the Florida native, Ikner touted right wing conspiracy theories and hateful ideas. Few students, if any, were close to Ikner, although he spoke with the professor regularly after class, Luzietti told USA TODAY.

“I remember thinking this man should not have access to firearms,” Luzietti said. But, “What are you supposed to do? ”

Ikner was quoted in an FSView/Florida Flambeau this January reacting to a Tallahassee Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) march on campus. “These people are usually pretty entertaining, usually not for good reasons,” said Ikner, a political science major. “I think it’s a little too late, (Trump is) already going to be inaugurated on Jan. 20 and there’s not really much you can do unless you outright revolt, and I don’t think anyone wants that.”

Contributing: Michael Loria, USA TODAY

Tessa Duvall

tessa.duvall@jacksonville.com

Even before the mass shooting at a video-game competition that left three people dead and 11 wounded, Jacksonville was in shock.

Another shooting. This one as a crowd left a high school football game. One man was dead; two youths were wounded.

“This suspect is a 16-year-old male,” Sheriff Mike Williams said when announcing the boy’s arrest, punctuating each word. “Think about that for a minute. He’s 16.

“I mean, that’s incredible. That’s unbelievable. As a community we need to stop and think about that.

“Where do we get to the point where a 16-year-old male thinks it’s OK to murder someone in cold blood at a football game? A high school football game?”

As Duval County teenagers have been arrested at alarming rates for their suspected involvement in homicides — 23 in the last five fiscal years — Williams’ lament has become a common one.

The Aug. 24 shooting outside Raines High School came on the heels of other high-profile cases involving teens, guns and death.

A 17-year-old boy was arrested in connection with a shootout that killed a 7-year-old girl. Two other young men were sentenced to life in prison for their involvement in a 2016 drive-by killing of a toddler, back when the two were still minors.

How did teens in shootouts become so normal? Why does this keep happening in our city? And where are these kids getting guns?

The reality is this: Guns are plentiful on the streets in many Jacksonville communities.

In the last five years, there has been a 73-percent increase in juvenile arrests in Duval County for weapons possession, according to the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice. There were 121 arrests in Duval in 2016-17, up from 70 in 2012-13.

Duval County Public Schools had 12 reported incidents involving guns on campuses out of 35 total weapons-related incidents, according to the Florida Department of Education School Environmental Safety Incident Report for 2016-17, the latest year for which data is available. Five years earlier, Duval reported 22 weapons incidents with seven of those involving firearms.

To learn more, the Times-Union analyzed elements of its research conducted as a part of an ongoing examination of juveniles who commit homicide. The newspaper has exchanged letters with more than 50 Florida inmates from Duval County convicted of a murder or manslaughter they committed as minors. Many of these people wrote letters with their stories. Two-dozen agreed to take an extensive survey about their home, school and academic life growing up, as well as the crimes that landed them in prison.

Among those 24 survey respondents, 16 said guns were used in their crimes.

One man’s offense dates back to 1973; another’s is as recent as 2015. But over the decades one thing has not changed: the remarkable ease with which teens can get their own guns on the streets of Jacksonville.

Tamarius Bowes, now 24, was 17 when he shot into a crowd at Beverly Hills Park just south of the Trout River, killing a 23-year-old man and wounding a 9-year-old boy in the leg. Bowes, like several other respondents, said in the survey that he bought his gun on the streets for his own safety. He doesn’t remember how much he paid for it.

“We carry guns because everybody carry guns and leaving your safety to the police that don’t even come in certain neighborhoods or is not always in the right place at the right time can end up with you dead,” Bowes wrote from Santa Rosa Correctional Institution, where he’s serving a 20-year sentence. “And who wants to die young?

“But that’s exactly what we’re doing. The next kid doesn’t care if you’re armed or not.”

Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Assistant Chief Scott Dingee, head of the crimes against persons section, said that there is a degree of legitimacy to some kids believing that they need guns. Many of them grew up seeing guns carried around regularly, he said.

“You live in a neighborhood where there’s gunfire, and your friends have been shot and you know people who were … it breeds that mentality,” Dingee said. “ ‘Well, nobody was protecting me so I need to protect myself.’

“And then they frequently start to carry guns.”

LIKE BUYING CANDY

Half an hour after Williams announced the arrest of the 16-year-old suspect in the Raines shooting, Kids Hope Alliance CEO Joe Peppers sat down with the Times-Union editorial board to discuss the future of the city’s children’s services council.

Peppers said the issue of programming for teens is critical, and it’s one that has to be resolved by next summer. To not do so, he said, would be “negligent.”

Peppers had just met with a youth group at a church. He said he was “really taken aback” by what he heard.

“‘We can get a gun anywhere. We don’t even have to buy a gun,’” Peppers said the kids told him. “They said it’s as easy to get a gun as it is a bag of Skittles.”

The juvenile offenders surveyed by the Times-Union back up what those kids told Peppers.

Some of their cases go back decades, while others were within the last few years. But the ease with which these teens got their guns hasn’t changed.

Of the guns used by the 16 survey respondents:

six were stolen

six were bought on the street

four were borrowed from someone they knew.

“It was my cousin weapon,” said Jeremiah Hill, who is serving 40 years for a first-degree murder committed when he was 13. “He told me to scare the victim with it.”

“It was stolen from the home of a friend,” Connor Pridgen answered. Pridgen, 25, was 16 when he and a 17-year-old friend killed a classmate.

“Bought off the street,” wrote Felton Aikens. Aikens and a friend were robbing a Burger King when police shot and killed his friend. Florida law allows Aikens to be charged with murder as a result. “Really not sure the price due to my friend did the buying.”

Tony Brown is now 61 and serving time for a 1981 armed robbery he committed as an adult. But as a 16-year-old in 1974, he caught a second-degree murder charge. Brown, like teens today, said he took his weapon from another crime he’d committed.

“Guns are easy to get in hands of these kids,” Brown wrote to the Times-Union. “They are bigger and more powerful than the guns I had, and once he or she feel the power he or she has just by pointing it at someone, nothing else will feel the same. … A gun in a kid’s hand is a powerful thing.”

GUNS IN SCHOOLS

Survey data collected in a joint effort by multiple state agencies indicates kids in Duval County may be taking guns to school far more often than they’re getting caught.

The Florida Youth Substance Abuse Survey is given annually to tens of thousands of middle and high school students across the state. In addition to asking about substance abuse, it also asks kids about other risky and delinquent behaviors, including guns.

Between 2006 and 2016, on average:

1.35 percent of surveyed school kids in Duval County said they’ve taken a handgun to school, higher than the average in any other large county statewide.

6.18 percent of surveyed Duval kids said they’ve carried a handgun, also higher than the average in any other large county statewide.

42 percent of Duval high school students perceive that they have access to handguns, higher than most other large counties, including Miami-Dade, Broward, Hillsborough and Orange.

CAR SURFING

Those numbers may not be surprising considering that the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office has received reports of more than 1,300 guns stolen from unlocked cars alone in about two-and-a-half years.

Police say that’s the most common way illegal guns make it onto the streets.

In 2017, 563 guns were reported stolen from unlocked vehicles, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. There were 597 the year before. As of May 2, the Sheriff’s Office had received reports of 145 guns being stolen from unlocked vehicles.

Police say once those guns are gone, they’re not going to be used for above-board reasons.

Dingee said if he could ask one thing of the community, he’d “beg” everyone not to leave guns in their cars.

“We have videos of kids, where — they call it car surfing — three, four, five kids, go to a neighborhood … and they’re literally just walking down the street at 2 in the morning, 3 in the morning, pulling car doors,” Dingee said. “And as soon as they find a car door that’s unlocked, they go in and they take whatever is there.”

THE CYCLE

Tamarius Bowes, the inmate who asked, “who wants to die young?” said killing wasn’t a big deal to him and his friends. It was unavoidable.

“We heard about it; we witnessed it,” he wrote. “Some of our own family falling victim to it. One killing led to another killing that led to another killing for retaliation of the initial.

“And the cycle goes on and on.”

HEIDY DIES

Brown-eyed Heidy Rivas Villanueva had just ridden along with her father and 2-year-old sister to drop off her mother at the popular El Tapatio store in a busy shopping center on 103rd Street.

Before her father could even park the family car, gunfire erupted nearby.

Police later explained there had been a gun sale arranged under the guise of a robbery nearby, and the robbery had gone wrong.

Thirteen shell casings were recovered at the scene.

One of the bullets, fired in rapid succession, had struck 7-year-old Heidy in the head.

Though police believe a 19-year-old man was likely the shooter, police have arrested five people on charges relating to the girl’s murder.

The youngest is 17-year-old Trevonte Montie Phoenix, who was picked up four days after the shooting. Phoenix has been charged with second-degree felony murder, possession of a firearm by a juvenile delinquent, armed burglary and armed robbery for his role.

He has entered not guilty pleas on all charges.

KILLERS SENTENCED

Caught in the two-months-long war between Jacksonville street gangs Problem Child Entertainment and the 187 gang was a 22-month-old child.

Two teenage gang members were gunning for a rival — the toddler’s uncle — in drive-by shooting on the city’s Eastside on Jan. 29, 2016.

Toddler Aiden McClendon was sitting in his car seat with his mother and great-grandmother when his tiny body was struck by three bullets.

Henry Lee Hayes and Kquame Riguan Richardson — 16 and 17, respectively, at the time of the shooting — were found guilty in the child’s death this July.

On Aug. 23, a judge decided they should both spend life behind bars, with no chance of release until after 25 years had passed.

THE RAINES SHOOTING

The reigning state champions Raines Vikings lost 16-15 to the Lee Generals in the opening week of the local high school football season on Aug. 24.

The end to the Vikings’ 13-game winning streak wasn’t the top news of the night; it was the gang-related triple-shooting that left 19-year-old former Raines student Joerod Jamel Adams dead just outside the stadium.

Two other teens — a 17-year-old male Raines student who is a friend of the deceased and a 16-year-old female Lee student who was not an intended target — were struck by bullets but survived.

Police said several fights broke out in the stands during the game, and it is believed that the suspect’s attempt to finish one of those fights that led to the shooting. To get into the stands, there was metal detection and security; the nearby sidewalks weren’t restricted.

On Tuesday, police arrested 16-year-old Robert Howard in the triple-shooting after witnesses identified him.

The Grand Park Education Center student is charged with one count of murder and two counts of attempted murder.

Tessa Duvall: (904) 359-4697

Editor’s note:

“When Kids Kill” is an extended examination of juvenile crime and punishment in Northeast Florida.

This article and others forthcoming on this topic are being produced as part of a project for the University of Southern California Center for Health Journalism’s National Fellowship, in conjunction with the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.

Previous installments of “When Kids Kill”

Fernandez case highlights the long-term implications of incarcerating youthful offenders

Arrest of 12-year-old on manslaughter charges highlights challenges in cases of kids