JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office released videos that detail the events that led to the shooting that left an officer injured and the robbery suspect dead.
News4JAX made the editorial decision to cut the above video before it showed any graphic moments.
The surveillance video from inside the Family Dollar near Soutel Drive and Norfolk Boulevard in the Sherwood Forest neighborhood showed Jamari Rashaud Akins, 20, at the cash registers in a dark-colored hoodie pulled over his head with a “COVID-like” mask covering his face.
He points a gun at the clerk and demands money from the cash register. The woman began frantically attempting to open the register.
“I’m trying to open the register,” she said to Akins as a dispatcher overhead the conversation because she had managed to call 911.
“Man, hurry up with the transfer,” he replied to her.
The woman begged Akins not to shoot her as he steadily grew visibly impatient.
“Please, don’t come around the corner,” she pleaded. Eventually, she gives Aiken $100 in cash, and different surveillance videos catch him running off through a nearby apartment complex on Norfolk Boulevard.
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Officer Luis Mercado spotted Akins, jumped out of his cruiser, and ran after him.
“Aye, [expletive] get on the ground!” Mercado commanded. “I will [expletive] shoot you.”
The video shows Mercado finally catching up to Akins and taking him to the ground. While he was being detained, Akins fired two shots, hitting Mercado once in the leg.
Mercado then returned fire, fatally hitting Akins.
