Man says he was shocked to find his image posted on St. Augustine Police Department’s Facebook

Post was in reference to deadly shooting on Anastasia & asked public for help identifying those pictured

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – A man who says his image was posted among others in a picture that was shared on the St. Augustine Police Department’s Facebook page tells News4JAX he was shocked to see his photo.

The post from the Police Department, that included the image, read: “The subjects below may have information regarding the shooting that occurred behind the Pub on Anastasia.” It’s referring to a shooting that occurred behind The Pub on Anastasia and O’steen’s Restaurant, resulting in the death of Jason Mullins, 50.

The post goes on to ask the public to identify the people in the photo or for people in the photos to contact the Police Department.

Included in the photo is Alex Boles.

“I saw it within 5, 10 minutes of it being posted and responded immediately and then immediately asked them to take that photo down,” Boles said.

But that didn’t happen right away. It stayed up over the weekend before being removed Monday.

Boles says that made his weekend stressful.

“Honestly, I had my phone ringing constantly,” Boles said. “And it was just, I didn’t feel comfortable with the way they dealt with it as far as, it felt inappropriate.”

Boles says he doesn’t understand why his photo was posted. After the shooting that killed Mullins, he gave police officers a statement the next morning. He even shared his contact information.

Boles says what bothers him the most is the public perception, especially from employers. He’s looking for a new job and worries they may have quickly glanced at the post, saw his photo and thought he had something more to do with the shooting.

“It really kind of damages quite a bit in the eyes of the community and the lack of respect or monitoring, like I said, just seemed kind of negligent,” Boles said.

News4JAX reached out to the Police Department to ask what department policy is when posting photos in situations like this and why some photos weren’t removed sooner.

Their public information officer Dee Brown gave a statement. It reads in part:

“As far as the police department posting on Facebook, often times there are several witnesses that give statements at the incident, and often times people leave the scene before police get there. So, to make sure we have everything…we go over surveillance to make sure that we’ve contacted or identified every witness or potential witness who may have information…”

Boles says he hopes the Police Department changes its posting policy and learns whose contact information they do and don’t have.

He also added that since he did know the victim in that shooting and went to the bar with him that night, being attached to a post like this has made the grieving process harder.


About the Author:

Khalil Maycock joined the News4JAX team in November 2022 after reporting in Des Moines, IA.