JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A cellphone video captured the moments after a police officer fired two shots, striking a man during a traffic stop in the Moncrief area of Northwest Jacksonville Thursday night.
Jacksonville Undersheriff Pat Ivey said Officer Serge Paul fired the shots at Keith Crowder, 24.
At last check, Crowder was in critical condition at UF Health hospital.
Police said Crowder is a certified member of a Jacksonville gang. But Crowder's girlfriend, who wished to remain anonymous, told News4Jax that he's not in a gang and doesn't cause trouble. His girlfriend said he's just an AC repairman who works seven days a week.
Cellphone video was taken by an eyewitness just moments after the shooting. News4Jax was given the video, but was asked not to air it on TV or post it online due to its graphic nature.
In the cellphone video, Crowder's girlfriend and her mother can be heard.
Girlfriend in the video: "Why did y'all shoot him?"
Paul: "Because he had something in his hand."
Girlfriend: "No, he did not have nothing, anything."
Paul: "He threw it right there. I don't know what the h***. But he threw something."
The cellphone video also shows Paul standing over Crowder.
Paul in the video: "Get me some first aid stuff."
Woman: "You didn't have to shoot him."
Girlfriend: "Why'd they shoot him?"
Crowder appears to go in and out of consciousness in the video. At one point, he begs police to call rescue crews.
Crowder in the video: "Call them now. I'm dying."
Paul: "No you're not. Hang on. Hang on. Hang on."
Witnesses said Crowder stopped his car on West 32nd Street, right in front of his girlfriend's home. Crowder's girlfriend said she was standing on the sidewalk when Crowder got out of the car, put his hands up and then the officer ran up to him, shooting him.
"He jumped out of his patrol car, ran up behind Keith's car and started firing gunshots as my mom begged and pleaded with him 'Please don't shoot,'" Crowder's girlfriend told News4Jax Friday.
Crowder's long-time girlfriend said he did not do anything that could be perceived as aggressive.
"No. He just threw his hands up and got out of the car and that was it," his girlfriend said.
According to the Sheriff's Office, Crowder ignored the officer's commands to get back in the car. Investigators said they found a loaded gun on the floor of his car.
"The police told him, 'Put your hands up.' You know, but his hands were already up," Crowder's girlfriend said. "He just jumped out and started shooting him. The boy didn't even have a chance to say nothing to me or my mother."
Activists said the shooting doesn't sound justified.
"The officers' accounts are different than what the eyewitness accounts are. So we have an issue. Who do you believe?" said Diallo Sekou, chairman of the Kemetic Empire. "It's just not justifiable. The stories conflict between what the officer and what eyewitnesses say."
News4Jax crime and safety analyst Gil Smith said the video will be part of the investigation, and it's too early to tell what will happen right now.
"He supposedly was coming at the officer. Now, that is not necessarily justification for shooting. He has to be able to articulate why he felt his life was in danger to the point that he was going to use deadly force," Smith said. "It could go either way."
Ivey said the Sheriff's Office will be conducting a thorough investigation and the State Attorney's Office will be conducting a separate investigation.
News4Jax reached out to JSO Friday night, after its regular hours, to let them know about the video, but has not yet heard back.
JSO: Officer shoots man during traffic stop in Moncrief
Just before 9 p.m. Thursday, Paul and other officers with the JSO Violent Crimes Unit were working overtime when they spotted a vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed after it spun its wheels, Ivey said.
Ivey said the officers caught up with the speeding vehicle and Paul activated the lights on his police cruiser to initiate a traffic stop. Crowder's vehicle did not stop, Ivey said.
Paul then activated his air horn and Crowder's vehicle stopped on West 32nd Street, near Golfair Boulevard, Ivey said. He said that police later learned Crowder has connections to the house where he stopped and is a certified member of a Jacksonville gang, who goes by the name Moncrief Snoop Hitman Jr.
UNCUT: Undersheriff's news conference of officer-involved shooting in Moncrief
Crowder got out of the vehicle and Paul, who was in uniform, then exited his patrol car and ordered Crowder to get back inside the car, Ivey said.
Ivey said Crowder did not comply, other commands were given, and Crowder still did not comply.
That's when Paul discharged his firearm twice and Crowder was hit in the upper body, Ivey said.
Crowder was the only person inside the vehicle, and after obtaining a search warrant, officers found marijuana and a .45-caliber handgun inside the driver's side door on the floorboard.
Ivey said Friday that police learned that Crowder was out on bond on charges of misdemeanor possession of marijuana and possession of a concealed weapon. According to a Clay County police report, Crowder was pulled over for having a front headlight out, and a bag of marijuana and a loaded handgun were found in the car. Crowder was handcuffed, and then slammed himself into the hood of the cruiser, and yelled, “Help, police brutality,” the report said.
Crowder has three previous arrests in Duval County on charges of misdemeanor possession of marijuana and domestic battery, strong-arm robbery and battery, and violation of probation.
Paul is a nine-year veteran of JSO and it was his first officer-involved shooting, according to the Sheriff's Office. Ivey also noted Paul is a black man. He has been placed on administrative leave, which is standard procedure.
The gun fired by the officer and the two shell casings recovered were sent to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for review.
When asked why JSO does not ask FDLE to investigate police shootings, Ivey said JSO has the resources to do their own investigations.
"I'm very, very comfortable and I know the sheriff is very, very comfortable to investigate these types of instances with the assistance of the State Attorney's Office, FDLE processing," Ivey said.
If all the agencies in Florida asked FDLE to take over their officer-involved shootings, Ivey said, FDLE would be overwhelmed.
FDLE told News4Jax that staffing is not an issue -- if an agency calls them in, it will investigate a police-involved shooting, but it is based on the local agency's request.
"They don't just listen to what we say, 'Hey, guess what? He was here and he was here.' They are right there taking into their own account what they're hearing of where the evidence was," Ivey said.
Thursday night's officer-involved shooting is the eighth involving JSO this year. Two of the eight were deadly, according to News4Jax records. The last shooting happened May 22 in Springfield.
"We can't help but be startled and a little bit upset that there was another shooting on the Northwest side of Jacksonville, Florida," said Ben Fraizer, spokesman with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.