Man shot by security guard shares his story

Guard says he shot 33-year-old Jimmy Crook in self-defense

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A Westside man was shot in the chest over the weekend by a security guard in Central Florida. The security guard says it was self-defense.

But 33-year old Jimmy Crook disagrees. He is in intensive care at Orlando Regional Medical Center with a collapsed lung.

Jimmy Crook, whose wife is pregnant, spoke by phone with Channel 4's Hailey Winslow. He has a bullet lodged in his back.

"It really irks me," Crook said. "I could've been killed that night, and I'm just thankful to be alive." 

Orlando police have not charged anyone yet. The case is still open. Police are also working to get surveillance video from the surrounding areas to find out what actually happened because they are hearing two very different stories.

Jimmy Crook

Crook (pictured) and his friend, who were in Orlando for a monster truck pull, were going to Checkers to get food. A security guard from a nearby apartment complex, who was on his way home from work, said the two were driving erratically on John Young Parkway near West Colonial Drive, near the Orange County Sheriff's Office.

The guard said he blew his horn and the men got out of their vehicle and got into an argument with him. He said the driver then got back in the truck, but Crook did not.
 
"When I walked up, I didn't even have a chance to turn, it was that quick," Crook said.
 
Jimmy Crook said within 10 seconds he was on the ground.

In a statement, the security officer's company -- Urban Enforcement and Protection -- said Crook got in the guard's car and tried to hit him. It says in self-defense, the guard shot him, then called police.

DOCUMENT: Full statement from Urban Enforcement and Protection

Jimmy Crook's brother, Shaunn Crook, described the panic as his friend raced to help.
 
"He heard a pop, looked back, saw my brother stumbling across the road," Shaunn Crook said.

"I was laying on the ground and he ended up sticking his thumb in the wound to stop the bleeding and that's what saved my life," Jimmy Crook said.
 
Jimmy Crook vows he did not threaten or put his hands on the security guard and said the guard had no right to shoot.
 
"The man's a security officer first of all. That's the policeman's job to police the roads," Shaunn Crook said. "There was nobody in immediate danger. They weren't committing a crime. It was a traffic offense if anything."

"I just about lost my life over stupidity," Jimmy Crook said. "My child wouldn't know who his daddy was over stupidity."

Crook said he never got in the security guard's car. In the statement, the guard's company said he made every effort to deescalate the situation and gave numerous warnings to the men to stop.