JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The daughter of a man shot and killed in a police-involved shooting that happened in the Durkeeville neighborhood shared concerns about her father‘s death after the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office released bodycam footage from that night.
The video shows what led to two officers fatally shooting 54-year-old Djuan Jackson while responding to a reported carjacking.
The bodycam footage released on Wednesday begins with a JSO officer gathering information from a carjacking victim when he is alerted about Jackson attacking a man with a knife, which was later found to be a butter knife.
Witnesses said Jackson approached the carjacking victim’s family with the knife and showed aggression toward a juvenile and then attempted to stab the man.
In the graphic video that is not censored, you can see two officers shoot about six or seven shots at Jackson after commanding him to drop the knife.
Jackson’s daughter, who wanted to remain anonymous, said the officers went too far with their reaction.
“If you‘re gonna shoot him, at least shoot him once. I mean, like, even if he doesn’t follow command. Y’all couldn’t follow other protocols before shooting, but if you’re gonna shoot somebody, don’t shoot five times,” she told News4JAX Wednesday.
She felt there were better options the officers could have used to de-escalate the situation.
“Y’all could have tased him, y’all could have done something. Anything besides shooting, killing somebody. I mean, nobody wants to get that call saying that their father is gone,” she said.
After Jackson was shot, one of the officers called for paramedics, and they also tried to render aid to him.
News4JAX Crime and Safety Analyst Tom Hackney said in these types of situations officers must act and sometimes they only have seconds to make a decision.
“When you learn after the fact that that was a butter knife, okay, that’s disturbing in its own right. But the officers were acting in a manner because this wasn’t just a guy holding a knife,” Hackney said. “This was a guy who was engaged in some kind of tussle with somebody with that knife. And again, it’s a dark street. It’s a matter of seconds before this happens. So, you know, the number of shots it, it doesn’t truly come into play.”
JSO said Jackson had a criminal history and was recently released from a 5-year prison sentence in June.
His daughter told News4JAX that he dealt with mental health issues. She also hoped the officers were held accountable.
“Just better protocols, getting our people some help, especially, especially my race, I just feel like they treat us so nasty,“ the daughter said. ”I just think it’s just so unfair. We already go through enough as a race, so hopefully that’ll change in the future, and we can get some kind of structure in the city for all races and all people."
The State Attorney’s Office will independently review the incident to see if what the officers did was legal. Then JSO will conduct an internal review to ensure the officers acted within agency policy.
To see the video, click here. Viewer discretion is advised as the video includes graphic material that some may find hard to watch.