A domestic battery between a man and woman resulted in a deadly confrontation between Jacksonville police and the woman armed with a knife Tuesday night, Aug. 11.
The Sheriff's Office said it began about 10:45 p.m. with a call to a home in the 1100 block of Westdale Drive between Arlington Road and Cesery Boulevard. It was a fight between a boyfriend and girlfriend.
Undersheriff Shawn Coarsey said the man met an officer outside and told her he had been in an argument with his girlfriend who was armed with a knife. The woman then walked outside carrying multiple items. The officer told her to drop everything, which she did some. But she still held a large kitchen knife.
"The officer gave the suspect loud, verbal commands to drop the knife. Instead,
she advanced toward the officer, and the officer fired a shot," the Sheriff's Office said. "The suspect was struck and fell to the ground, but did not drop the knife. She tried to get up and again attempted to advance toward the officer, so the officer fired a second shot."
A backup officer arrived and continued commands to drop the knife. She eventually put it down and was transported to a hospital where she died. Her name has not been released due to next of kin notifications, but the Sheriff's Office did say she was 22.
Due to changes in Marsy’s Law, the officer’s name is not being released at this time.
A day earlier officers fired but missed ― one with a Taser and the other with a handgun ― at a 16-year-old boy whose mother called about him being suicidal and having a gun, the Sheriff's Office said during that briefing. When they located him in the Regal Avenues theater parking lot on Philips Highway and tried to talk with him, he pulled a gun on them and was fired upon.
A Sheriff’s Office’s Behavioral Crisis Response Unit was able to communicate with him on his phone but unable to convince him to give up before SWAT officers fired pepper balls in the vicinity. He then shot himself in the head, the Sheriff's Office said. He survived, but a condition update has not been provided.
This was the 12th person shot by Jacksonville police this year, equaling the number at the same time in 2025. Of 2025's police shootings, eight were fatal compared to seven this year. Last year finished with 17 officer-involved shootings with 11 fatal, both the most since 2008, according to Times-Union records. In 2024, there were only eight total with three fatal.
(This is a developing story that will be updated.)
Scott Butler has been an editor/reporter specializing in public safety coverage for 26 years with The Florida Times-Union. He can be reached at sbutler@jacksonville.com.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Woman with knife is shot and killed by Jacksonville officer
