LOCAL

1 dead, another critical in officer-involved shooting in Northside Jacksonville

Dan Scanlan

dscanlan@jacksonville.com

Jacksonville police shot and killed a robbery suspect, critically wounded another and have a third in custody after a confrontation Tuesday evening on the Northside, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office.

It began about 5:40 p.m. when a person used a social media app to try to buy an iPhone, the Sheriff’s Office said. The seller met that person in the 11200 block of Harts Road, Chief of Investigations T.K. Waters said. The person was robbed at gunpoint, then reported the theft to police, he said.

Officers set up an undercover operation to look for the suspects in the same area, then ultimately made contact with three suspects in the 11500 block of Harts Road, Waters said.

Officers tried to arrest them.

“A firearm was produced by those three suspects,” Waters said. “Officers gave loud verbal commands for them to drop the gun. They refused to drop that gun.”

Officers shot several times, striking two of the suspects. One was pronounced dead at the scene and another was taken to a hospital in critical but stable condition, Waters said. The third person was arrested. All three range in age from their late teens to early 20s.

It was unknown if the suspects fired any weapons, Waters said.

Killed was 20-year-old Reginald Leon Boston, his mother told WJXT TV-4. He was being mourned on social media as a local rapper.

The officers involved were R.W. Crotty, A.D. Henton and C.T. Cowan.

Crotty, who has been with the Sheriff’s Office for 13 years, has three officer-involved shootings. Henton is a six-year veteran, and this was his first shooting. Cowan has been with the Sheriff’s Office for about five years, with this also being his first police shooting.

This marks the eighth suspect shot by Jacksonville police in three months, according to Times-Union data.

The last occurred late Jan. 5 near the area of Moncrief Road and West 45th Street, leaving a 17-year-old dead and another last known in critical condition following a chase in the Moncrief area, police said. That 9:20 p.m. shooting occurred after an officer tried to pull over a car headed the wrong way, police said. The driver then fled, hitting another vehicle and a concrete walkway abutment.

Officer N. E. Lawson went to the crashed car, but "some sort of exchange that took place" and he shot several times, police said. The driver was shot and wounded, the passenger dying of his wounds at the hospital, police said. A weapon was found in the car, police said.

Dan Scanlan: (904) 359-4549