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2 survivors of Jacksonville’s first 2020 officer-involved shooting now jailed

Dan Scanlan
dscanlan@jacksonville.com
Florida Times-Union

Two survivors of Jacksonville’s first police shooting of 2020 have been officially charged, one of them following his release from the hospital after being critically wounded on Jan. 5, according to court documents. A third suspect died that night.

The Sheriff’s Office previously reported only two suspects were involved in the police chase that ended with officers shooting and killing 17-year Kwame Jones.

It began about 9:20 p.m. when Officer N.E. Lawson tried to pull over a car going the wrong way on Moncrief Road at West 45th Street. The driver didn’t stop and hit another vehicle before crashing into a pedestrian overpass, the Sheriff’s Office said. Lawson approached the crashed car, then pulled his gun when “some sort of exchange took place” and shot two occupants. A gun was found in the back of the car.

Jail and court records now identify the wounded man as 18-year-old Joseph Kashawn Carter, charged Jan. 15 with possession of a firearm by a juvenile delinquent found to have committed a felony. Carter’s arrest report said the warrant was served on him at UF Health Jacksonville. He was absentee-booked in jail, then transferred there Jan. 15. Jail records show he remains behind bars on $100,000 bail.

The third person was 17-year-old Bobby Gene Whitty IV, charged with aggravated fleeing from police, according to jail and court records. A charge of fleeing could indicate he was the driver, since police did not indicate anyone in the car ran from the scene.

The Sheriff’s Office said this was Lawson’s first officer-involved shooting after being on the force for a year and seven months. He was wearing a body camera. But the department has not released any of the shooting footage as Jones’ family and the Jacksonville Community Action Committee have demanded it.

The shooting has garnered a loud community response. An estimated 100 people attended a Jan. 17 vigil at Moncrief and 45th, many demanding justice for Jones.

Jones’ death was the first of two officer-involved shootings this year in Jacksonville, both involving multiple young black men.

Officers killed a robbery suspect, critically wounded another and arrested a third after a Tuesday-night confrontation on the Northside, the Sheriff’s Office said. The incident began when a person was robbed at gunpoint about 5:40 p.m. after using a social media app to try to buy an iPhone. The victim of the robbery in the 11200 block of Harts Road reported the theft to police, who set up an undercover operation and made contact with three suspects nearby.

When officers tried to arrest them, one pulled a gun. Officers ordered the gun dropped, but it was not and they shot several times, striking two of the suspects. One was dead at the scene, identified by police and family as 20-year-old Reginald Leon Boston. Another was taken to a hospital in critical but stable condition, while the third person was arrested.

All three range in age from their late teens to early 20s, the Sheriff’s Office said. It has not provided any other updates. The officers involved in that shooting were R.W. Crotty, A.D. Henton and C.T. Cowan.

It also follows a controversial police shooting on Dec. 14, where 22-year-old Jamee Christopher Deonte Johnson was killed during a traffic stop on Buckman Street. He also had a gun in his car and got into a struggle with Officer Josue Garriga III when he was ordered out of the vehicle. The Sheriff’s Office said Johnson got back into the car and hit the gas, dragging Garriga. When the car stopped, the Sheriff’s Office said Johnson reached for his handgun and was killed by the officer.

Family and the NAACP also have demanded release of the body camera video.

Dan Scanlan: (904) 359-4549

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