JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – One man was killed and another was critically injured when a Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office undercover operation ended in gunfire Tuesday on the Northside, police said.
According to Chief of Investigations T.K. Waters, someone was robbed at gunpoint Monday evening along Harts Road while trying to buy an iPhone on a social media app. As a result, police officers began an undercover operation in the area.
Waters said investigators made contact with three suspects, one of whom brandished a firearm. Waters said the officers gave commands for the suspect to drop the gun, but that person refused.
According to Waters, the officers fired several shots at the men. He said two men were hit by gunfire, and one of them died at the scene. A second man was taken to a hospital with critical injuries. Waters said a third man was arrested and taken into custody.
The identities of the men were not immediately released by police, but the family of the man killed identified him as 20-year-old Reginald Boston Jr. The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office released his name on Thursday afternoon when they released the photo of the gun officers said was pulled on them.
Boston’s mother, Yvonno Kemp, was devastated when reached by phone Wednesday. She said her son held down two jobs, had a 10-month-old son and aspirations of becoming a rapper.
“I knew that something happened to my baby, I knew that,” Kemp said. “I felt it in my stomach.”
Three police officers were involved in the shooting, and News4Jax is working to verify their identities. It’s standard procedure for officers to be placed on administrative leave following a police-involved shooting.
According to Waters, Officer R.W. Crotty has been with the Sheriff’s Office for over 13 years and this was his third officer-involved shooting. The second officer, A.D. Hinton, has been with the Sheriff’s Office for over six years, and it was his first officer-involved shooting. The third officer, C.T. Cowan, has been with the Sheriff’s Office for over four years. It was his first officer-involved shooting.
No officers were injured.
This was the second deadly officer-involved shooting of the year.