By Tony Marrero
Tampa Bay Times
TAMPA — A Hillsborough deputy fatally shot a man who was holding a woman at knifepoint during a call in the Carrollwood area Thursday night, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies responded about 9 p.m. to a call about a dispute between neighbors on Camden Street near West Waters Avenue, the sheriff’s office said in a news release. The caller, Jason Douglas Paul, 47, claimed his neighbor assaulted him.
When deputies arrived, Paul was “acting erratically and threatening to kill his neighbor,” the news release states.
Deputies tried to de-escalate the situation but Paul continued to make threats to kill his neighbor. Deputies decided to take Paul into custody under Florida’s Baker Act, but Paul entered his home and refused to come out, according to the sheriff’s office.
As deputies continued to ask Paul to leave the home, they heard a woman screaming and saw through a window that Paul was holding a knife.
“At this time, Paul took the female at knifepoint into a back bedroom,” the news release states. “Fearing for her safety, deputies quickly broke through a window and entered the home.”
Deputies went to the back bedroom and ordered Paul to put the knife down multiple times, the sheriff’s office said. Paul refused to drop the knife, and Deputy John Howes , 30, fired his service weapon at least once and struck Paul.
Deputies rendered aid to Paul until paramedics arrived and took him to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tampa, where he was pronounced dead.
The sheriff’s office released a two-minute compilation of footage captured by the body-worn cameras of Howes and another deputy.
The footage first shows Paul shouting outside his second-floor apartment.
“He’s lucky I didn’t grab a hold of him and f—king kill him,” Paul shouts at one point. “I would’ve killed him on self-defense if I would’ve got a hold of him. You tell him that. Because I would’ve got a hold of him I would’ve snapped his neck and he would have been dead!”
Later, Paul can be seen through a window decorated with garland and twinkling Christmas lights as deputies ask him to let them in.
Paul tears down the horizontal blinds and shouts, “I didn’t do nothing to you!” As Howes and another deputy are about to use a key that a relative of Paul’s gave them to access his apartment, Paul can be seen through the window holding a knife.
“He’s got her,” another deputy says, referring to the woman inside the apartment.
Howes and another deputy break through the window and rush to a back bedroom as the woman can be heard screaming. When they arrive, Paul is standing by a bed and is holding the woman from behind.
“They’re taking me to jail,” Paul shouts as Howes enters the bedroom.
As green garland hangs from Howes’ arm, he points his gun at Paul and orders him to drop the knife. Paul sinks to the ground still clutching the woman.
“Put the knife down right now,” Howes says.
“Put it down or you’re gonna get shot!” another deputy standing behind Howes shouts.
“Knife down right now,” Howes says, and then repeats the order two more times. A couple of seconds later, he fires a single shot.
The sheriff’s office blurred part of the video but the round appears to have hit Paul in the head.
After the shot, the woman runs from the room screaming.
“Our deputies sprang to action when confronted with a situation where someone’s life was in immediate danger,” Sheriff Chad Chronister said in a statement. “Our deputies are trained to protect innocent lives, and that’s what they did.”
Howes joined the sheriff’s office in February and has no prior use-of-force incidents.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the shooting.
—
©2024 Tampa Bay Times. Visit tampabay.com.
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
