Share and Follow
In Jacksonville, Florida, a tense situation unfolded recently, as captured in a video released by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office (JSO). The footage detailed a significant incident in which officers were involved in a shooting on Thursday night.
This particular event marked the fifth officer-involved shooting for JSO in the current year and notably, the second occurrence in just one week.
Authorities reported that the confrontation took place on Fox Tail Lane at approximately 10:10 p.m. The incident began when a man, later identified as 62-year-old Jose Cabrera, approached the officers wielding a knife.
Initially, JSO patrol officers were dispatched in response to a distressing call. The call described a man armed with a knife, who had allegedly threatened both self-harm and harm to his wife.
Upon arrival, the officers discovered that Cabrera had already fled the scene. They proceeded to gather information from the victim and managed to establish contact with Cabrera through a phone call, aiming to de-escalate the situation.
“While on the phone with officers, the suspect said he would not be going back to prison and threatened they would have to kill him,” JSO said.
The victim told officers Cabrera may have gone to a family member’s home. JSO said officers went to the home on Fox Tail Lane, where they located the vehicle the suspect was reported to be driving.
Officers talked to Cabrera and asked him to exit the vehicle. JSO said he grabbed a large knife and approached officers with the knife.
“Officers attempted to create space between themselves and the man, but he continued to advance toward them, still holding the knife,” JSO said. “Officers shot at the man several times.”
Officers began life-saving measures, but he died at the hospital from his injuries.
“You leave them with very little choice when you’re advancing toward a police officer holding a knife,” Sheriff T.K. Waters said. “It’s concerning of course when we run into these types of situations, but they’re trained professionals to take care of themselves and take care of the community.”
No officers were injured in the incident, according to the sheriff’s office.
“The people we come in contact with dictate what happens,” Waters said. “We don’t dictate that. We have to respond to what we are seeing happen in front of us, and that’s what they did tonight.”