JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office identified 39-year-old Leon Burroughs as the man shot and killed by police after an officer was grazed by a bullet Friday night following a burglary investigation, according to JSO.
According to Waters, police were called around 5:30 p.m. in regard to a burglary. About an hour later, they located Burroughs sitting in a vehicle on Hardee Street, where they spoke with a resident of a house to determine who was inside the vehicle. The sheriff said police tracked some things that were stolen from the earlier burglary to that location.
Noticing there was a handgun on top of the car, Waters said, five officers approached the vehicle, removed the handgun and discussed how they were going to speak with the person inside the car, who was sleeping.
“When they opened the door, they asked him to show them their hands on several different occasions, probably seven or eight times from different officers, and they asked him also to get out of the car,” Waters said. “He refused to get out of the car. He kept saying, ‘Turn the light off. Get the light out of my face so I can see.’”
“During the conversation, for an unknown reason, he fired off a shot and grazed one of our officers, wounding him on the left side of his face,” Waters added. “Officers returned fire, all five of them, striking him several times and killing him at the scene.”
According to court documents, Burroughs was accused of burglary in September 2022.
The injured officer was taken to the hospital and believed to be okay, according to Waters.
Jacksonville police also released images of the gun they said Burroughs used as well as another gun found at the scene.