JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The State Attorney’s Office has ruled three police shootings from 2017 justifiable, including a case in which three undercover police officers were arrested for tampering with evidence.
Jerome Allen, 22, was shot and killed Feb. 6, 2017, after he pointed a replica handgun at one of three detectives inside an undercover car during a drug deal, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.
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Detectives Brian Turner, Lance Griffis and Kyle Kvies were arrested a week later on evidence tampering charges because they ditched three beer cans that were in the car, including an open beer.
The charges against the detectives were later dropped as part a deal with prosecutors in which Turner, who shot Allen, resigned from the force and surrendered his law enforcement certificate.
Griffis and Kvies cooperated with the investigation, and avoided prosecution after completing community service hours.
Allen’s family later filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the three detectives, the Sheriff’s Office and Sheriff Mike Williams over his shooting.
In the second case, 57-year-old Selwyn Hall was shot and killed by Officer Ryan McGee outside his East 19th Street home April 26, 2017, while McGee was answering a domestic violence call.
Hall, who was accused of assaulting his wife, resisted arrested and was struck with a stun gun. According to police, McGee shot and killed Hall when Hall grabbed the stun gun.
In the third case, 44-year-old Daniel Blyler was shot and killed by Officer Lemmuel Johnson in the parking lot of Vic’s Sandwich Shop on North Edgewood Avenue on Aug. 25, 2017.
Investigators said Blyler was armed, inebriated, and refused to comply with Johnson's commands.
In the fourth case, 25-year-old Derrick Brabham was killed in a shootout on Aug. 18, 2017, with officers Kevin Jarrell and Mike Fox, both of whom were seriously wounded.
Police were sent to a home on Seaboard Avenue to investigate a domestic dispute, investigators said. Brabham had fired a shot and was threatening to kill his fiancee and himself.
In the fifth case, 20-year-old armed carjacking suspect Robert Bracewell was shot and killed by officers at the intersection of Lane and San Juan avenues. Investigators said Bracewell carjacked a 14-year old girl, then forced her out of the car. JSO had the car disabled by OnStar.
Officers B.L. Jester and B.J. Langston blocked the car, investigators said. Bracewell got out, gun in hand, and when he turned toward the officers, they fired a combined 17 shots, hitting Bracewell multiple times.
With the officers now cleared, JSO’s Response to Resistance Board is now looking into whether the shootings followed departmental guidelines for the use of deadly force.