South Florida
A Florida man’s family is demanding answers after he was fatally shot by a plainclothes police officer in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, early Sunday morning while he was on the side of the highway with his disabled car.
Corey Jones, 31, a popular drummer in south Florida who played in the band at his church and worked as an inspector for a local city’s housing authority, was shot at about 3:15 a.m. by Officer Nouman Raja, police said in a press release.
“We haven’t gotten any answers yet,” his aunt, Sheila Banks, told the Sun-Sentinel. “All we know is someone shot him.”
Jones’ family says they weren’t notified that he had been killed until about 6 p.m. Sunday, about 15 hours after the shooting.
Here’s what you need to know:
<snipped, see link>
More:
Florida cops kill black man who pulled over with car trouble — and then refuse to tell family why
First police account of the shooting:
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. —According to a Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office source who can’t comment publicly, the account Palm Beach Gardens officer Nouman Raja told investigators is that stranded motorist Corey Jones pulled a gun on him as soon as Raja approached him on the PGA exit ramp from I-95 and said, “Police, man, are you alright?”
Raja said he then fired two to three shots at Jones, who was standing behind his open driver’s side door. He said Jones then took off running.
Raja told investigators he was tracking Jones as he ran, and saw him make it to the guardrail west of the car, about 30 feet away.
The source said Raja said he could see the flickering silver of a laser on Jones’ gun, and that’s when he took aim and fired two more times.
Raja was working an undercover surveillance detail on burgled cars, and pulled up to Jones in a white unmarked passenger van, perpendicular to the front of Jones’ car.
He was wearing jeans, a tan T-shirt and a ball cap. He did not have his duty gun on him, but a smaller, back-up Glock in a front holster. The duty gun was in the van.
The source said Raja told detectives Jones was standing, and Jones immediately said, “I’m okay.”
Raja said he then identified himself as police, and that’s when Jones pulled out his gun, and Raja immediately shot at him.
Raja had left his police radio in the van, and called 911 on his cell phone as he tracked Jones running away.
According to the source, evidence technicians found five casings from Raja’s Glock 40 at the scene.
They also found a Jimenez Arms 380 semi-automatic pistol, with six live rounds in the magazine, which apparently belonged to Jones.
The Palm Beach Gardens Police issued a statement Monday that said Jones suddenly confronted Raja with a gun, and that’s when Raja fired.
So basically, the guy breaks down in the middle of the night, calls his friend for help and waits for a tow truck. Random cop pulls up, asks if he's ok, Jones pulls out a gun after the cop identified himself as police. Seems logical. Of course, the dead guy can't dispute it.