JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A man was shot Wednesday morning by a Jacksonville police officer after the man pulled out a knife following a short foot chase in the Panama Park neighborhood, Chief of Investigations T.K. Waters said.
Police have not yet released the man’s name, but a woman who said she is the man’s former girlfriend has identified him as Tim Lagonia. She said she is the mother of two of his three children.
Waters said police were called to Hawthorne Street about 7:30 a.m. Wednesday after a call came in about a suspicious person.
He said officers who arrived saw a man standing in a yard and recognized him as a suspect in an Oct. 31 burglary in that neighborhood.
Waters said the man had both hands in his pockets, and police shouted at him to show his hands.
He said the man then ran off and the officers ran after him. One of them used his Taser on the man, who fell to the ground but wasn’t subdued.
Waters said a second officer approaching from a different direction fell to the ground near the man, who then turned toward the officer on the ground holding a knife in his right hand.
Waters said Officer R.A. Lind fired his duty weapon three times, striking the man, who was taken to a hospital in critical condition.
"I ran out and I seen Tim laying on the ground. I knew his blue jacket. I ran down there, and they’re just standing over his body just smiling, and it sickened me, because I was like, ‘How could y’all not stop the bleeding? He has three kids. Stop the bleeding.’ They pick up something, and when my sister-in-law come down here, she says they weren’t trying to save him,” said Kasey Brown, Lagonia’s ex-girlfriend.
JSO disputes that account. Waters said the officers tried to help the man “as soon as it was safe to do so.”
Waters said the man who was shot had previous convictions for burglary and drug charges. Charges against him are pending in this case.
Brown acknowledged Lagonia’s criminal record but said he is not violent.
This was Lind’s first officer-involved shooting. He’s been with JSO for 11 years. Lind was placed on administrative leave, which is standard procedure in officer-involved shootings. According to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, there have been seven officer-involved shootings in 2019 to date.
Waters said both the officers involved were wearing body cameras.
