ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – St. Johns County Sheriff Rob Hardwick praised his department’s training, equipment and coordination that he said kept the public safe during an unusually chaotic stretch this week that included a deputy-involved shooting, a lengthy interstate pursuit and manhunt, and a separate double shooting.
He repeatedly commended deputies, aviation and K-9 teams, dispatchers and partner agencies for their response during two incidents that unfolded within hours of one another on Thursday after a complex deputy-involved shooting incident just days earlier.
“I’m just so proud of my men and women and what they do,” Hardwick said, as he sat down with several of his staff during a media roundtable on Friday.
The deputy-involved shooting on Tuesday began with a 911 call and quickly escalated to a confrontation in which the sheriff’s office said the suspect, 43-year-old Kristopher Lee Johnson, fired repeatedly at a man he knew.
Investigators recovered 14 rounds at the scene, the sheriff said.
The intense 911 call was released by the Sheriff’s Office the following day, along with video that captured Johnson being fatally shot by deputies on Tuesday afternoon after leading them on a dangerous chase in wrong-way traffic. The pursuit was captured on camera by a citizen (press play below to watch).
The sheriff said that per protocol, the deputies involved in Tuesday’s incident have been placed on administrative leave while the case is reviewed.
Just two days after the dramatic events of that police chase and deputy-involved shooting, deputies ended up engaged in a three-hour manhunt in dense woods and then a search for a double shooting suspect on the same day.
“All these are very independent, isolated incidents. I mean, they’re not related at all to each other, just very coincidental that the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office would have three critical incidents (in the same week),” Hardwick said.
The drama on Thursday began around 3:45 p.m. when a deputy with the Sheriff’s Office Task Force pulled over a vehicle because of its tint and an improper lane change.
The driver, later identified as 33-year-old Tomal Bowe of the Bahamas, ran on foot from the traffic stop, stole a van and fled at high speed down International Golf Parkway toward U.S. 1, the sheriff explained.
Bowe abandoned the stolen vehicle on U.S. 1 near Abbotts Way and ran into a heavily wooded and marshy area, where deputies searched for him for hours.
The air unit was called in, along with K-9 teams and other agencies, to help search for Bowe, who has an international warrant from the Bahamas.
Hardwick lauded the aircrew’s use of thermal and FLIR cameras and credited K-9 teams for tracking Bowe through ankle-to-waist-deep swamps and dense vegetation.
One of the deputies involved in the pursuit said it was some of the worst terrain he’s had to trek through.
“When you weren’t in thick vegetation, you were in ankle to waist deep swamp water,” he said.
Bowe was eventually found, and Hardwick confirmed that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is also investigating him.
According to the sheriff, the arrest was made at 6:58 p.m., and just one minute later, 911 calls came in about a double shooting at a home in St. Augustine on the opposite side of the county.
Two women were shot, and deputies eventually found the accused shooter -- the boyfriend of one of the women -- running from law enforcement and hopping fences about eight blocks away.
That man, 37-year-old Michael Hankerson, was also arrested the same night. He is charged with two counts of attempted murder.
Throughout Friday’s briefing, Hardwick emphasized the role of training and technology, pointing to the department’s aviation unit, a real-time intelligence center, license-plate readers and partnerships with other law enforcement agencies as decisive factors in quickly locating suspects and protecting the community.
“We train, we prepare, and when it happens, we execute,” the sheriff said, adding that deputies regularly review policy and undergo mental-health checks following traumatic incidents.
He also said equipment and legal support are provided to deputies involved in critical incidents.
The sheriff acknowledged the toll such events take on deputies and community members, noting the department worked to ensure personnel received wellness checks and support.
All three investigations remain active.