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There were 772 cases of police shootings between 2009 and 2014. Use the filters below to find cases that match a certain set of criteria.

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Nov. 4, 2009 — Fort Lauderdale

On Nov. 4, 2009, Fort Lauderdale Police Officer Dean Schoen was working off-duty but uniformed as security at the bus terminal.

Fort Lauderdale PD

Someone approached Schoen and told him that a man was walking around outside brandishing a knife. Schoen confronted Jonas Joseph, a mentally unstable man, nearby and saw that he had a kitchen knife in his hand.

He said Joseph, 20, refused to drop his weapon and advanced toward him in an aggressive manner. Schoen fired four times, striking Joseph once in the abdomen. Read more

A bystander, a napping homeless man named Luis Medina, 56, was shot in the leg twice.

Joseph admitted to holding the knife, but neither he nor Medina said he advanced toward the officer.

Schoen was cleared by a citizen review board.

This was the 112th police shooting in Florida in 2009.

Seven days earlier, four officers shot one person in Indian Shores .

Three days later, two officers shot one person in Port Charlotte .

5 ways this case compares to others

  1. Joseph approached police in a threatening manner before being shot. That's true in almost 10% of police shootings.
  2. Joseph did not immediately comply with police instruction, a factor in nearly a quarter of shootings.
  3. Medina was one of 18 innocent bystanders shot by police. Some of them were hostages.
  4. Joseph was armed with a blade/stabbing implement. Only 80 other people were armed the same way.
  5. Joseph showed signs of mental instability. Almost a third of all shootings involved someone who appeared mentally unstable.

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