JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The SWAT officer who shot and killed a 34-year-old ex-convict inside an Arlington home last fall followed Jacksonville Sheriff's Office guidelines for the use of deadly force, the agency's Response to Resistance Board determined.
Police said Jerry Graham Jr. was shot and killed Oct. 28 when narcotics detectives forced their way into an home on Century Street. Officers said Graham was holding a loaded .40-caliber handgun.
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Graham was hit by five bullets fired by a SWAT Officer Nick Rodgers, a 12-year veteran of JSO. Graham died at the scene.
The State Attorney's Office had already ruled the shooting justified.
Jacksonville Sheriff's Office Director Mike Bruno said at the time that four other weapons were found throughout the house, as well as drugs and officers found crack cocaine cooking in the kitchen.
Also inside the home were three other adults, who were all arrested on drug charges. Two children, 5- and 7-year-old boys, were in the home at the time.
"These children are victims, too. They're growing up in a crack house. They have no say," Bruno said.
Bruno said child welfare officials were contacted and that both boys are with their mother.
Police said the team announced on a loudspeaker they were there to search a warrant, and when no one answered the door, they forced their way in the front door.
Police said Rodgers was still at the door when Graham entered the front room with a gun. Rodgers fired five shots from his .223-caliber assault rifle, all striking Graham, who died at the scene.
Police said the children were in another room, and neither they nor anyone else was injured in the incident.
Bruno said the search warrant was being served by a SWAT team because Graham, who was accused of dealing cocaine, was known to have been armed before.
News4Jax found Graham was arrested several times in Duval County on charges that included cocaine possession, armed robbery and for passing worthless checks.
Rodgers was involved in another shooting in 2007. He was shot in the face during an exchange of gunfire with a drug suspect after officers responded to a call of a suspicious person at 24th and Haines Streets on the Eastside, where anti-drug surveillance was taking place. Rodgers needed jaw surgery and lost some teeth. He was awarded a Purple Heart for that incident.