JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Newly released footage from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office captures the tense moments that culminated in a police officer shooting a 14-year-old after a pursuit involving a stolen vehicle.

According to State Attorney Melissa Nelson’s office, the decision to open fire was deemed justified given the officer’s understanding at the time, which suggested the stolen vehicle might pose a serious threat, potentially armed and dangerous.

“The suspects placed an order, distracted the delivery driver, separated him from his vehicle, and then made off with his black Kia Optima,” explained Nelson.

Nelson further described how the theft of the DoorDash driver’s car triggered a chain of unexpected events, ultimately resulting in the teenager being shot and requiring hospitalization.

She said right around the same time and place as the theft, some more violent crimes happened – a drive-by shooting and hit-and-run.

“Within minutes of each other, and close in distance – within two miles,” said Nelson.

Nelson says that prompted JSO to radio out a BOLO to all districts to treat the stolen car as armed and dangerous.

So, when an officer spotted a car matching its description, it kicked off a chase.

“They believed, at the time, they are taking down a shooting vehicle,” said Nelson.

However, JSO determined the hit-and-run and drive-by shooting were unrelated to the stolen car, but that information wasn’t sent out over to the radio to some of the officers involved in the pursuit.

When the 14-year-old ran after crashing the car into a building, Nelson says he motioned toward his waist, leading the officer to shoot him.

Nelson says no gun was recovered at the scene and the teen wasn’t armed.

“Officer Cahill’s belief met the threshold permitting lethal force,” said Nelson. “Our review identified a communication breakdown that certainly contributed to this incident.”

Nelson says the updates were only relayed to one district instead of city-wide.

“Really a perfect storm of timing, proximity, logical but incorrect assumptions and communication gaps,” said Nelson. “While those circumstances may well indeed give rise to civil liability, they actually help explain and support the reasonableness of the officer’s perceptions and actions.”

The case has prompted the agency to work on updating its dispatch protocols “so that critical updates such as this are pushed on all city radio channels,” according to Nelson. She says JSO has already presented a mock up of the new policy, so they should implement the update shortly.

All four teens who were in the stolen car are charged with grand theft auto.

Nelson added the teen survived the shooting and is now out of the hospital.