JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — When Travis Harris went to pick up his half-brother, William Lowe, on Monday night, he didn’t expect to see what he witnessed.
“I hear pow, look back, and he’s on the ground,” said Harris.
According to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, officers were waiting outside a house on Ponce Boulevard in Oceanway to arrest Lowe for allegedly stealing a car and breaking into businesses.
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That was around 6:30 p.m. About that same time, Travis said he and a friend were going to pick up Lowe and his girlfriend. When they got there, Harris said a man named Alan Rush pulled up into the driveway, and Lowe immediately jumped into Rush’s car.
“As they pulled out of the driveway, the officers approached from either side of their vehicles,” said Chief Alan Parker with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.
JSO said officers stopped the car, approached Lowe on the passenger side of the car, and arrested him. Meanwhile, another officer went to arrest Rush, but investigators say he did not cooperate and began to fight.
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“During that altercation, that suspect produces a handgun and the officer was luckily able to shoot him in the head himself with his own handgun,” said Chief Parker.
Rush died from his injuries. He had a prior criminal history. JSO sent us a picture of the gun they say Rush pulled on the officer before he was shot.
Harris watched in horror as all of this unfolded before his eyes.
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“His window was rolled halfway down. He put his hands out the window. They snatched him out, and he went to the ground,” said Harris. “Then I looked over at this cop coming across here, running across my yard. I hear pop, I turn back around, he’s on the ground, handcuffs, already shot.”
JSO said officers found a slew of drugs inside the car Rush was driving that they believe were his at the time of the incident.
The State Attorney’s Office is conducting its own investigation into this incident.
This is the 17th officer-involved shooting by JSO this year.
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