‘Perfect storm of events’: Shooting of unarmed 14-year-old accused in car theft was lawful, state attorney says

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A month after an officer-involved shooting left a 14-year-old boy fighting for his life in the hospital, State Attorney Melissa Nelson announced that her office’s investigation determined the shooting was lawful.

WATCH: Press play above to watch the State Attorney’s full news conference.

Nelson described a chaotic series of events that she called “the perfect storm,” leading up to the shooting of the teen, who officers say was involved along with three other teens in stealing a DoorDash driver’s car and then leading officers on a chase.

Watch body-worn camera of the shooting below:

Nelson said three events that happened just miles apart within 7 minutes of each other on Nov. 1 were at first believed by law enforcement to all be related and involving the same black Kia Optima.

Later investigation revealed the incidents actually involved three separate vehicles and were not connected.

It all started at 6:05 p.m. when a DoorDash driver reported his black Kia had been stolen by four teenagers.

According to Nelson, the four teens -- who have all been charged with grand theft auto -- placed an order, then distracted the driver when he arrived, separated him from his black Kia Optima, and then stole the car.

“That auto theft set in motion a chain of events that ultimately led to one of those teenagers, a 14-year-old, being shot by a police officer after fleeing from a dangerous crash scene,” Nelson said.

Four minutes after the car theft was reported to 911, dispatchers got a call about a hit-and-run involving a black Kia, and then 3 minutes after that, a drive‑by shooting was reported.

Because they occurred so close together, dispatch and officers believed incorrectly that the Kia was the vehicle involved in the drive-by shooting and sent out a citywide BOLO (be on the lookout) for the Kia.

Although the incidents happened close together, they involved three different JSO districts, which all operate on separate radio channels.

According to JSO, details from the calls indicated the stolen Kia may have been involved in the other two incidents, and that information was relayed over the District 1 radio. Similar messages were relayed over the District 5 and 6 radios.

When officers investigating the drive-by got updated information that the vehicle involved in the shooting was actually a black Dodge Durango, that information was relayed by dispatch to District 1, but not to neighboring District 5, where officers were still searching for the Kia they believed had been involved in the shooting.

That communication gap is a central problem in what led to the officer-involved shooting, and Nelson said it is being addressed by JSO.

District 5 task-force officers, still believing the Kia was the shooting vehicle, spotted the stolen Kia around 7:45 p.m., tried to stop it, and it sped away, leading officers on a short chase that ended with a crash into two patrol cars and a building, Nelson said.

Two of the teens inside were detained at the scene, and two ran off.

Officer Jacob T. Cahill, 27, who has been with JSO for three years, said he chased one of the teens who ran, thinking he was the driver of the crashed Kia and that he was armed. Nelson said Cahill believed that because of the prior reports, the car chase and crash, the teen’s arm position, and poor visibility, which kept him from seeing what was in the teen’s left hand.

Cahill shouted a command and almost immediately fired four shots, hitting the teen in the back.

It turned out the teen was unarmed, and his movement toward his waistband was likely just grabbing his pants.

The teen was rushed into surgery in critical condition. Nelson declined to release his name at the request of his family. She said he has been released from the hospital.

Nelson said that because of the anticipated public interest, her office sped up the review that normally takes anywhere from six to 12 months and finished it in about 30 days.

She said her team examined bodycams, surveillance, radio logs and witness statements, and consulted use of force experts before concluding that Cahill’s use of potentially deadly force was lawful and not criminal under the legal standard that looks at what a reasonable officer could have believed at the time.