JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Surveillance video showing the moments Jacksonville police officers shot and killed 34-year-old Justin Reed outside his home Wednesday night has raised questions as to why Reed didn’t call the police when he noticed a suspicious vehicle outside.
But residents in the Panama Park neighborhood said both sides could have acted differently to change the outcome.
“Calling the police is something that inner cities and low-income areas are not comfortable with just based on history,” said Raymond Morales, a resident in the neighborhood.
Morales is a father and said he understands why Reed did what he did.
“(Society) it doesn’t seem to see how it’s not fair for someone to come out and check to see if their family is safe, see what danger may be lurking outside their home, and be able to stand ground and protect their home. But on the other side of town it’s perfectly fine,” he said.
JSO said the shooting happened during a gang investigation and the officers inside an unmarked vehicle were waiting on other units to arrive.
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Police said Reed approached the unmarked vehicle carrying a rifle and hit the SUV with the butt of the gun. Surveillance video, shared with News4Jax by a nearby church, then shows Reed point the weapon at the SUV with three officers inside.
The video appears to show flashes first near the back passenger seat, then the front passenger seat, followed by a muzzle flash from Reed’s rifle before an officer gets out of the back passenger side of the SUV and fires multiple shots at Reed, who falls to the ground wounded.
The officers administered first aid to Reed, who died at the hospital.
News4Jax requested an interview with the Sheriff’s Office about what’s going on in Panama Park in general, outside of the police shooting, and they declined to comment.
According to JSO’s crime map, in the last 90 days, burglaries, shootings, assaults, car breaks ins, vandalism, and thefts have bene reported within a quarter-mile radius from Wednesday’s shooting.
“There is room for re-training of police officers so they can get a wider perspective,” said Morales. “They were wrong. They could have did something different as well as the man trying to protect his family could have done something differently by calling the police instead of going out and investigating it. But like I said before it’s fine in some neighborhoods but not in others.”
News4Jax crime and safety expert Ken Jefferson said it’s too big of a risk for undercover officers to announce themselves when they’re in the middle of an investigation.
But it’s unclear if parking in front of Reed’s home was the only place, or the best option, for the officers to be?
We reached out to other law enforcement agencies like the FDLE and the Police Executive Research Forum about the planning surrounding investigations like this and if they consider where they park and what areas they are in, particularly in residential neighborhoods.
FDLE declined to comment but said each agency comes up with their own policies for conducting investigations.