NASSAU COUNTY, Fla. – Nassau County Deputy Joshua Moyers, who had been clinging to life after he was shot early Friday morning during a traffic stop, died Sunday afternoon, the Sheriff’s Office announced.
He was 29.
“It is with great sadness that I announce Deputy Josh Moyers has passed away this afternoon, September 26, 2021 at 2:19 PM at UF Health in Jacksonville. Please keep Josh’s family and fiancée in your thoughts and prayers as we navigate this terrible tragedy,” Nassau County Sheriff Bill Leeper wrote in a news release.
A procession to honor Moyers from UF Health to the medical examiner’s office was held Sunday evening.
A spokesperson for the Nassau County Sheriff’s Office says at some point tomorrow, there will be another procession as Moyer’s body is transferred from the medical examiner’s office back to Nassau County.
Deputy Moyers died after he was shot twice by a suspect that deputies said was still on the run on Sunday afternoon.
Leeper, who said on Saturday that Moyers was not expected to survive and added that the medical personnel at UF Health Jacksonville did everything possible to save Moyers.
“They’re some of the best of the best, and there was just nothing they could do for Josh,” Leeper said.
Leeper said the family, including Moyers’ fiancée, decided to donate his organs so he was being kept alive until matches could be found.
Leeper said Moyers is the third deputy he’s lost in the line of duty since he became sheriff -- and the second this year. Deputy Jack Gwynes died of complications from COVID-19 in February.
The Moyers family in an online fundraiser asked for donations to support the deputy’s fiancée Ivy. So far it has raised more than $8,500.
Jacksonville Fraternal Order of Police president Steve Zona, who is also a retired law enforcement officer, said Moyers’ death is sending shockwaves throughout the entire law enforcement community.
“When something like this happens, we all lose a part of ourselves. He was family. Closer to others than some. But it doesn’t matter, he’s family and so when something like this happens and they die in the line of duty, we all lose a part of ourselves,” said Zona.
Zona said traffic stops can be some of the most dangerous scenarios for law enforcement officers because they don’t know what’s about to happen when they walk up on a vehicle they just pulled over.
“You hear people say it was a routine traffic stop. There is no such thing as a routine stop. You don’t know what the person you’re stopping just did. Or what’s wrong with that vehicle.”