Posted on 01/30/2007 1:12:56 PM PST by FreedomCalls
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- An elderly man is dead and two Jacksonville Sheriff's Office detectives are on administrative leave after an undercover narcotics investigation ended in gunfire late Saturday.
According to the JSO, detectives Donald Maynard and James Narcisse had been working undercover for about three hours in the 2300 block of Westmont Street when 80-year-old Isaac Singletary approached them with a gun just before 6 p.m.
The officers said they ordered the man to put down the gun. However, Singletary did not drop his weapon and gunshots were exchanged.
Singletary was shot several times. Paramedics rushed him to Shands-Jacksonville Medical Center, where he died.
Less than 24 hours after the fatal police shooting left his uncle dead, Gary Evans told Channel 4 he's mad.
"Eighty-years-old, and they had to shoot him twice or more in order to subdue him. I'm very upset about it," Evans said.
He said his uncle was territorial and mad about the drugs on his street, and would often take his gun and try to scare the drug dealers away.
On Saturday, things went terribly wrong.
"My uncle asked the officer, which he didn't know at the time he was a police officer, to leave his property and he didn't," Evans said.
Neighbors told Channel 4 that Singletary was very protective of his property.
"You don't expect somebody to come pointing a gun at you, and once they do that, the officers will tell them to drop the gun," JSO Chief Dwain Senterfitt said. "We're still investigating what statements were made, but obviously, at that point, the officers' lives were in danger."
Police said they are still trying to figure out if the undercover officers had time to tell Singletary they were undercover officers. They said the detectives had to hid behind a tree to avoid being shot by Singletary.
According to police, the officers had been in the neighborhood since about 2:45 p.m., and had made five drug-related arrests.
"In the course of our undercover activity and making several arrests in this neighborhood, a man we now know to be a resident of that area, Mr. Isaac Singletary, was shot by officers," said Director of Investigations and Homeland Security Micheal Edwards.
Saturday's shooting was the third JSO-involved shooting in three weeks. Unlike last week's case at the Sable Palm Apartments, there is no dispute whether Singletary had a gun.
"There was a confrontation between them and an exchange of gunfire," Edwards said.
However, the question of who fired the first shot remains unanswered.
"He shot at my uncle first. He was the first one to shoot, and my uncle returned fire," Evans said.
"As you know, our investigation into any shooting must be thorough and methodical. At this time, there's a limited amount of information we can share," Edwards said.
As the details of the shooting are being hashed out, scared neighbors and sad family members remember Singletary.
"I looked in his eyes I saw his pain. I felt the pain for him. He never bothered anybody. He's never done anything to anybody. He didn't want anybody in his yard," said neighbor Antionette Douglas.
Let's see, he's DEAD. that's pretty excessive.
Citizen innocent? Innocent of what? He was defending his property.
The cops, had they had half a brain should have just LEFT. Since when is a drug bust worth more than a citizen's life?
realized the flimsyness of your argument, huh? loitering on private property does not warrant brandishing a firearm, imo. if you do, at least take some cover. this guy had bad tactics if he was trying to get into a gun fight in which he was outnumbered. again, your "castle doctrine" doesn't pass the smell test. but neither of us was there so all we can do is monday morning quarterback.
Well thank God you're not in the legislature or courts.
Fair enough then. Cops have just as much right to defend themselves as anyone else.
It's absolutely amazing to me, how some can live to a ripe old age without picking up one smidgen of wisdom along the way.
Hardly.
I am a local. You are not.
I possess a Florida CCW, and so am familiar with our laws concerning the application of deadly force. You are not.
I am familiar with, and associated with, the news organization that reported the story in the first place. You are not.
I know what I'm talking about. You do not.
loitering on private property does not warrant brandishing a firearm, imo.
Does "loitering" encourage drug solicitation...five times?
...your "castle doctrine" doesn't pass the smell test.
I submit your ability to "smell" is compromised by the location of your head.
Florida law does not require one to cower within the confines of one's home when facing a potential threat to life and limb, neither one's own, nor others.
You are joking aren't you? That would infer that these were professional officers and knew what they were doing. :)
I agree, it is almost as good as some of your writings.
How many square miles in a neighborhood?? Does that mean they had been a mile away , two miles away, a half mile away. Had been in neighborhood is a meaningless statement.
Now that I think about it, with the possible implications of Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law, these police officers might by subject to a charge of plain old murder.
She may have been "carrying." I agree that whoever did it was "acting like a cop. . ."
that a nice load of horse$#!@ you have there. The rules change when you get to Texas and Florida. Lethal force against trespassers is most certainly authorized. you may not like, but so what?
You do have the right to call 911,turn off the interior lights, arm yourself with every weapon you own and blow away any and all who kick down your door and storm into your home without identifying themselves.
Some people prefer to be self reliant and use the cops for their proper functions, mainly deterrence and record-keeping.
The cops should have LEFT the property. Just because you have a tin star doesn't give you the right to crap all over people's property rights.
I agree the information is sketchy, but it seems clear to me that the old man didn't know or didn't trust who they were, which was the heart of what led to the shooting. That could have been alleviated by the department letting him know ahead of time that they would be there.
That's a valid point. I'm not a big fan of undercover cops. They should be in uniform or conspicuously display a badge while on duty. I can certainly see going out to confront what you expect are drug dealers, and they tell you to drop their gun. Even if they said they were police, (I don't think the story said they identified themselves though.) once a situation escalates to pointing weapons, there is a good chance someone is going to get shot.
It's been my experience that United States Marines are tough no matter how they talk.
Funny, I believe the same horse hockey he is spewing and I'm not in prision either.
I wonder at what point we get to conclude you are talking out of your hat and have no business offering an opinion regarding Texas or Florida law. Further, that your inclination when predicting human behavior is decidedly liberal.
Do you want to take a crack at explaining this a little better or just let your idiocy stand at rest?
Read more on the story. He told them to leave twice. they refused. He came back to defend his property. and make no mistake. After dark in Texas, you can kill trespassers.
And yes I have defended my property after dark with lethal force. The good news is that they LEFT (kinda the cops should have done) before I had to pull the trigger.
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