LAKE CITY, Fla. -- An investigation continues after police in Lake City shot and killed an armed man. It happened around 2:30 a.m. in an apartment complex on South West Windsong Circle.
Multiple officers are on paid administrative leave as a result.
Neighbors tell Action News Jeramey Sweeny, 30, was new to the complex. He moved in just a week ago with his girlfriend. The mother living across the hall says he seemed nice, and she never thought he'd be the kind of guy at the center of a police shooting.
"It was shocking because it was too close to home, like, outside my door!" said the neighbor known only as Keke.
She says she was startled early Tuesday morning by a woman screaming. What she saw next is a vision she won't likely be able to shake for awhile.
"I came to look out the peephole and I just saw someone laying down in front of my door. Blood everywhere."
Lake City Police say they received a 911 call about a disturbance -- statistically, the most dangerous kind of call they get. The report came from inside apartment 203. Multiple officers responded but never reached the door.
"Your senses are heightened because it's a disturbance behind the door you don't know what's going on and then all of a sudden the door opens and a gun comes out," said Steve Shaw with Lake City Police.
Police say the gun was pointed at officers so they fired, killing Sweeny. He's a man neighbors say they trusted from the get go.
"He played with my two year old for awhile," said Keke. "Just sit here. I'd see him on the stairs, I'd speak to him. He'd speak to me. We talked once or twice but he didn't seem like he was a bad guy."
Others living nearby say despite the fact their neighbor came outside in the middle of the night with a gun, they aren't scared.
"I'm not afraid to walk out here at two o'clock in the morning," said Mary Cowart. "This was an individual incident."
Police have not released how many officers were involved, how many fired or what their names are. But Action News has learned all of them are veterans on the force.
