JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The state attorney's office has ruled that a Jacksonville police officer did not commit a crime when he shot two bail bondsmen in May. One of the bondsmen was killed.
While serving a warrant at the Mayfair Village Apartments early in the early morning on May 24, bail bondsman Antonio Cooks was shot and killed by Officer Jason Bailey. The officer was responding to a burglary call and didn't realize the bail bondsmen were serving a warrant.
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Responding officers also shot and injured bondsman Verne Williams, 37.
Many questions were raised about how an officer could have done this. After a state investigation, Bailey was not found to be at fault.
Crime scene photos show Cooks was wearing a black shirt and had multiple guns on him -- one of the reasons Bailey is not being charged. Assistant State Attorney John Guy also said Cooks and Williams did not follow police commands to lower their weapons.
A man who was in the apartment the bondsmen were trying to get into told investigators in an interview that he called 911 because they looked like they were trying to break in. He said they had guns and looked like criminals, not like police officers.
While the ruling means there will be no criminal prosecution, there will be a separate investigation by the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office into whether Bailey followed all police procedures.