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Dec. 26, 2009 — St. Petersburg

Officers George Graves, Michael Karayianes and Michael Romano responded to a call about a brawl.

St. Petersburg PD

At the scene, they heard gunshots and Officer Graves saw John "Smokey" Johnson standing over Ben Ware with a gun in his hand. Ware had been celebrating his 59th birthday when an argument erupted. The two had been feuding. Johnson left and came back about a half-hour later with a pistol. He shot Ware several times moments after the officers arrived.

Johnson started walking west along 18th Terrace S. Read more

Graves followed and was soon joined by the other officers. They told Johnson to drop the gun. Johnson replied that he wasn't going back to prison and that they would have to kill him.

He turned and faced the officers with the pistol in his hand. They fired five times, wounding Johnson twice in the stomach and once in the hand. He later died.

No record was found of Johnson ever having been in prison in Florida, though he had spent three days in county jail in 1987.

This was the 133rd police shooting in Florida in 2009.

The same day, three officers shot one person in Fort Lauderdale .

Nine days later, one officer shot one person in Tampa .

7 ways this case compares to others

  1. Officer Graves was involved in one other shooting from 2009 to 2014. Eighty-five officers were involved in more than one shooting during that time period.
  2. Officer Karayianes was involved in one other shooting from 2009 to 2014. Eighty-five officers were involved in more than one shooting during that time period.
  3. Officer Romano was involved in one other shooting from 2009 to 2014. Eighty-five officers were involved in more than one shooting during that time period.
  4. Johnson did not immediately comply with police instruction, a factor in nearly a quarter of shootings.
  5. Johnson tried to kill someone before the shooting, according to police. That’s true only 3 percent of the time.
  6. Johnson was one of 25 people who were shot after telling someone that he wouldn't go to jail or back to prison.
  7. Johnson was armed with a firearm. That’s true of almost half the people shot.

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