CALLAHAN, Fla. – The Nassau County Sheriff’s Office said a deputy responding to a domestic call in Callahan on Friday shot and killed a man who had threatened his brother with a knife.
Family identified the man who was killed as Justin Dawley.
It happened just after noon at a home on Nassau Oaks Drive. Deputies said they had negotiated with the man for about 15 minutes when he lunged at them with the knife.
No deputies nor the man’s brother were hurt.
The man shot wasn’t identified by authorities, but Undersheriff Roy Henderson said he was in his 30s or 40s and the Sheriff’s Office had responded to domestic violence calls at that home before and the man who was killed had made suicidal statements in the past.
A family member told News4Jax he was not involved in the shooting but was in the house in another room asleep when it happened. That’s different from what the sheriff’s office said on Friday.
The undersheriff said it was just the two brothers in the house.
This shooting is now being investigated by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the deputy involved is being placed on administrative leave, which is standard procedure.
“Obviously, it’s not what you want to have happen," Henderson said. "This is just the nature of what we do, we typically respond to calls and we just don’t know what’s going to happen when we respond.”
This was the fourth police shooting this year in Nassau County and the second within one week. Of the four shootings, three have been fatal.