A domestic disturbance call turned deadly Sunday morning after a chaotic encounter between police and a man identified as 39-year-old Michael Wright.
According to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, patrol officers were dispatched shortly before 11 a.m. to Normandy Boulevard to assist a woman trying to leave an abusive relationship.
Authorities said Wright had been acting erratically in the days leading up to the incident. When his girlfriend returned to their shared mobile home to collect her belongings, police said Wright assaulted her. Officers were helping her move out when the confrontation unfolded.
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Surveillance video obtained from a neighbor shows the police car arriving on the scene, which Wright immediately confronts and begins hitting.
The officer is then seen accelerating, ramming into another vehicle, then reversing and speeding forward again. The car strikes Wright as he approaches and launches him into the air.
The officer then exited the vehicle with his gun drawn, yelling for Wright to “put it down.” They said Wright approached the officer with an object in his hand.
Wright is then seen rushing toward the officer, who responds by firing four shots.
Neighbors Action News Jax spoke to expressed concern over how the situation was handled.
“But what is his ways to de-escalate the situation? They have tasers, but they shot him, man...,” said Craig Johnson.
Another person living nearby, Alexi Ubilla, said he had been a good neighbor.
Johnson expressed his unease following the shooting:
“I do not feel safe. The police just killed a man where I stay.”
Investigators later recovered a pair of scissors underneath the officer’s car. According to police, Wright had also messaged his girlfriend earlier that day, stating he was going to die.
Read: Inmate who died after an incident inside the Duval Co. Jail laid to rest
Wright was taken to the hospital, where he died from his injuries. This marks the eighth officer-involved shooting in Jacksonville this year, and the second one this weekend. Another man was killed by officers on Friday night.
If you are experiencing suicidal thoughts, you can find help by calling the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988.
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