JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Finally a Jacksonville police officer has been cleared of wrongdoing in the shooting death of a suspect that happened two years ago.
In October 2016, Jacob Depetris, 29, was shot and killed by JSO Officer Howard Smith, who was responding to a domestic violence call with shots fired at 12799 Shims Road, according to detectives.
Recommended Videos
The investigation showed Depetris was armed with a shotgun, and tried to kill the mother of his ex-girlfriend. He pulled the trigger twice, but the gun jammed. The woman and a man who was also in the house managed to get away from Depetris, police said.
When Jacksonville police arrived, the suspect, who also was outside, refused repeated commands to put down the gun and then pointed it at Smith. The investigation showed the officer fired twice, killing him.
Depetris had left a suicide note with his father, saying he was going to make the police kill him. Tests showed he was intoxicated and was holding a bottle of whiskey during the incident.
Depetris' father says he had been dealing with depression since his girlfriend left him, taking their child.
Once this ruling was issued on Oct. 9, the JSO Response to Resistance Board then conducted a closed hearing on the incident, and found Smith had followed departmental rules for the use of deadly force.
The officer has been on the force for almost 30 years.
The time it took (two years) for the state attorney's office to make this ruling shows how long these types of investigations can take.
There’s still an officer-involved shooting from 2016 that has yet to produce a ruling. There are nine from 2017 and five from this year.