In the footage, a man is visible holding a firearm. SWAT officers open fire as he ignores their commands to disarm, insisting he needs to talk to his mother.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — New video shows what led up to officers shooting and killing a man in Jacksonville following a standoff.
The shooting happened on Lenox Avenue on the Westside two weeks ago.
According to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office (JSO), they responded to a call at a mobile home on Lenox at about 8:20 p.m. on May 13. They had received multiple reports of a man, identified as 44-year-old Calixto Benvenutti, standing on the trailer’s front porch with a gun.
When they arrived, he went inside, which spiraled into a standoff with the officers, who demanded he disarm and come outside the trailer.
The video shows the moments where Benvenutti exited the trailer with a handgun, raised it up and then went back inside the trailer.
This segment of the video lacks audio and wasn’t captured with a body camera. JSO reports that the officers repeatedly instructed Benvenutti to lay down his weapon and exit, but he stayed inside.
SWAT officers came to the scene and continued to tell him to exit the trailer, JSO said, and the standoff lasted until the early hours of the morning of May 14.
He is then seen on camera picking up a large stick and walking towards another trailer. Two detectives, identified by JSO Detectives McCranie and Lyons, approach him on foot. JSO says another detective, Detective Crews, was nearby in an armored vehicle.
Benevutti drops the stick and then draws a concealed weapon, moving towards the trailer.
Footage from McCranie’s body-worn camera shows the SWAT officers as they attempted to get Benevutti to put down his weapon and surrender.
One officer can be heard saying, “Don’t let him get into that other house,” on the radio. McCranie approaches Benevutti, telling him to put his hands up and put his hands up.
Benevutti says, “go back, go back, go back, get the (expletive) back.”
Lyons can be heard telling the other officers that there is a gun in Benevutti’s hand.
Benevutti moves towards the door and continues to tell officers to back up and says he is “calling (his) mom.”
Officers tell Benevutti to drop the gun repeatedly, while he says, “Where’s my mom? Where’s my mom?”
As officers argue with Benevutti to drop the gun, he repeats, “I will talk to my mom, I will talk to my mom,” and “I will talk to my brother and my mom.”
Officers warn Benevutti not to move towards the trailer. When he does, all three of the officers fire at him and strike him. In the video, Benevutti can be seen collapsing with gunshot wounds.
He was “taken into custody” and officers rendered aid. However, he was pronounced dead at the scene.
The State Attorney’s Office is independently reviewing the incident to determine if the officers’ actions abided by the law, JSO said. Once that is complete, JSO will conduct an internal review to determine if the officers acted within policy. After the internal review, the next step is a ‘Response to Resistance Board,’ which will convene and report its findings to the sheriff.
The video can be viewed by clicking here. Warning: This video is explicit and shows officers shooting Benevutti, as well as the aftermath.
