Man killed by police was ‘not a monster,' father says

Jacob DePetris calls his dad, says he wants police to take his life

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A shotgun-wielding man who was fatally shot Thursday by a veteran Jacksonville police officer had placed a phone call just moments before, expressing that he wanted police to take his life, said his father, who received the call. 

Jacob DePetris, 29, had tried to shoot a woman in the head twice before officers arrived at the Oceanway home of his ex-girlfriend's relatives, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office. The gun misfired. 

RELATED: JSO: Man killed by police tried to shoot woman in head twice

What his son did was inexcusable, Jimmy DePetris said, but he does not believe his son went into that home to kill anyone. 

Jimmy invited News4Jax to his family's home Friday and shared the struggles that his son, who had suffered from depression, was going through. 

"I know that Jacob has never, ever, ever -- that I know of -- had a violent moment like this, where he's even talked about shooting someone or killing someone or anything else. He has talked about killing himself," Jimmy said. 

He doesn't want his son to be remembered as a monster, saying Jacob was a loving son and father of a 3-year-old girl. 

But Jacob's daughter was being taken away from him after a bitter breakup between him and his girlfriend, who was the mother of the little girl, Jimmy said.

His daughter was Jacob's world, and he didn't want to live without her, Jimmy said. 

Then, Jimmy received a call Thursday morning from his son, saying he was about to commit suicide by cop.

"He was sorry for what was going on, sorry for what was happening. He basically told me that he had already kicked the door in and fired off a shot and the police were on their way," Jimmy said. "'You need to put that gun down and go straight outside and put the gun down.' He said, 'They've taken my whole world away from me.'"

During the phone conversation just minutes before Jacob's death, Jimmy said he warned his son that he was going to be killed. 

"He said, 'I want them to kill me.'"

After his son's death, Jimmy said he found a suicide note behind in his son's journal, explaining that if his daughter was going to be kept from him, he was going to end his life.

"No one has been reporting about the depression, which is an illness just like any other illness. No one has said that his life got worthless because he couldn't be with his baby girl. No one has reported that," Jimmy said.

He described how it felt to read the note, and to hear his son's voice moments before he was shot and killed. 

"(It) made me feel like I didn't do my job. If he could feel that low, and could feel that -- just, like, he doesn't have a person that loves him in the world," Jimmy said. "I couldn't understand some of it. But I believe he believed that." 

Jimmy said his son had threatened to commit suicide several times in the past, and had even been admitted to a mental health facility two years ago. 

Though there's no excuse for his son's behavior, Jimmy said, the grieving father hopes to raise awareness for the mental health issues and the illness that took his son's life. 

"Depression is a real killer. Cancer is a real killer and so is depression," Jimmy said. "We're going to make sure people realize, if I have to go as far as I need to go, that Jacob is not a monster."

According to investigators, Officer Howard Smith, a 27-year veteran of the JSO, asked Jacob several times to drop the shotgun. 

But instead, Jacob, who had a bottle of whiskey in his other hand, raised the gun higher, police said. 

That's when Smith fired twice, hitting Jacob in the torso.

Another officer tried to give first aid to Jacob, but he died at the scene. His family is now working on plans for his burial.

"If my son would've listened to me, if he would've dropped the gun, if he had laid down, he'd still be alive," Jimmy said.

News4Jax asked Jimmy if he felt that the shooting was justified. He said yes.