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May 28, 2009 — St. Augustine

Three officers shot Vietnam veteran Jackie Beasley outside his home after he refused to drop his water pistol, which they thought was a gun.

Beasley, 50, was intoxicated and had been flashing the toy at neighbors, saying he was going to shoot a kid who stole his guitar.

St. Augustine Beach Police Officer M. Todd Smith told investigators that Beasley had started to raise his gun and yelled, "Shoot me," at the officers. Read more

Smith then heard deputies scream something and then a shot was fired. He was "unsure if Beasley had fired or if the other deputies had fired," according to the report. "Officer Smith fired at Beasley until the threat was gone." All officers were cleared by state attorney.

This was the 60th police shooting in Florida in 2009.

11 days earlier, one officer shot one person in Tampa .

Four days later, one officer shot three people in Orlando .

5 ways this case compares to others

  1. Deputy Emert was involved in two other shootings from 2009 to 2014. Only 10 officers were involved in more than two shootings in that time period.
  2. Beasley was armed with a toy weapon. Only four other people were armed the same way.
  3. Beasley told someone that he wanted officers to kill him. That preceded 10 percent of police shootings.
  4. Beasley were drinking alcohol before being shot. That’s true in about 10 percent of police shootings.
  5. Beasley showed signs of mental instability. Almost a third of all shootings involved someone who appeared mentally unstable.

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