JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A 26-year-old man was shot several times Tuesday night during an undercover drug sting in Northwest Jacksonville. James Dwight Jr. died later at a hospital.
Sources tells Channel 4 that an undercover vice detective had arranged to buy drugs from Dwight at a gas station at Cleveland Road at Edgewood Avenue West just after 9 p.m. When police attempted to arrest the Dwight, he got out of a car with a .45-caliber handgun.
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A total of three officers fired at the suspect after Dwight reportedly aimed the gun at an officer, hitting him several times.
The suspect did not fire his weapon and no officers were hurt.
Police say cocaine was found on the Dwight.
Channel 4 learned that Dwight has a long history of criminal activity, including multiple armed robbery arrests, kidnapping, battery, drugs, and an incident in 1992 in which he was charged with 8-counts of attempted murder.
Of the three officers involved in the shooting, only one -- James Walters -- has fired his weapon before in the line of duty. The 6-year veteran of the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office had shot a suspect while a member of the SWAT team.
The other two officers have been on the force 9 and 14 years.
All three were placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the state attorney's investigation and an internal investigation by the use-of-force review board, which is standard procedure.