A man was shot and killed by police on Sunday after attacking his girlfriend and a police officer’s vehicle before charging at a police officer, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said.
According to JSO, the incident occurred around 11 a.m. off Normandy Boulevard on the city’s Westside when 40-year-old MLW began attacking his girlfriend at their residence.
JSO Chief AP said the woman had left the home the night before because of a domestic dispute and returned Sunday morning to get some of her belongings.
But when she pulled up at the home, W came out and started throwing things at her vehicle, P said.
After being attacked, the woman drove to a nearby gas station and asked for an officer to escort her back to her home, P said. The officer met her at the gas station and returned with her to her home.
When they got back to the house, P said, W began attacking the officer’s vehicle.
“He’s banging on it, may or may not have thrown something at it,” Parker said. “He got up on the hood at one point, banging on the hood.”
Parker said W was banging on the window, and Officer Patrick Burke began reversing, but W continued to be aggressive and followed Burke down the street.
B then pulled forward again, hitting W and pushing him into a neighbor’s yard, P said.
P said B then got out of the vehicle with his gun drawn, and W stood up and charged at the officer, who was yelling at him to drop something that was in his hand. Parker did not say what Wright was holding. He said Wright was yelling, “Go ahead and kill me.”
“Earlier in the day, he texted [his girlfriend] ‘Ima die today,’” P said. “So we don’t know his intentions.”
P said B shot multiple times, and W went down. He said that after B was able to secure W, he rendered aid until paramedics arrived. W died at the hospital.
The agency said W had an extensive drug history and overdosed in the past week.
The full briefing by Chief A P and Sheriff T.K. W can be watched below.
A list of mental health resources available in Florida can be found here. There are also nationwide resources such as the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, which provides 24/7, free, and confidential support for people in distress, prevention, and crisis resources for you or someone you know.
8 officer-involved shootings this year
JSO said this is the agency’s eighth officer-involved shooting of 2025, and B’s first in his five-year tenure with the agency.
JSO reported eight officer-involved shootings in all of 2024.
Another man was shot and killed while wielding butcher knives after attacking two people on Friday night, JSO said.
News4JAX crime and safety analyst Tom Hackney, a law enforcement veteran of 30 years, said it’s good to look at the bigger picture of the overall numbers and trends, but said cases like these need to be looked at on their own to determine what can be learned and what to do moving forward.
“There’s two sides of this coin when we talk about this. One, every one of those incidents has to be looked at in its own merit, so you have to judge them and view them and investigate them and address whatever comes from them,” H said.
He added that the department will likely take a look at the bigger picture to see what trends are happening both locally and nationwide.
According to the JSO database for Officer-Involved Shootings, two other cases this calendar year were originally for an “armed suicidal individual.”
H said the goal, particularly with those who might be in a mental health crisis, is to de-escalate and slow things down, but sometimes things can change quickly.
“It all happens very quickly and in so many circumstances, changes on a dime that you have to be ready for it for just about anything,” H said.
Hackney said the department trains and learns from situations like this, but sometimes things become too dangerous.
“As a responding officer, you have to be cautious about what is happening there and that you’re not subjecting yourself to becoming a victim,” H said.
He added that officers in these situations have to live with the outcome, along with the families of those who are killed.
“Not only does it harm the individual who does something to cause themselves to be killed by law enforcement to their immediate families, but also to the officer,” Hackney said. “The viewers who see this may not think of the trauma that‘s associated with the taking of a life by a law-enforcement officer, but it is there, and it does weigh on them.”
The State Attorney‘s Office is investigating the shooting. JSO said once that is complete, it will conduct an internal investigation.
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Source: news4jax
