JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A woman is in critical condition after being shot by officers following a domestic dispute with her grandfather.
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office says that at approximately 6 p.m. Sunday evening, officers responded to the 2900 block of Kline Road East after 22-year-old Kiyan Atkinson pulled a gun on her grandfather.
JSO says that after arriving on scene at approximately 6:10 p.m., they met the owner of the residence, who stated that their granddaughter lives in the back of the home in a shed.
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Officers entered the backyard and told Atkinson to leave the shed multiple times before she finally came out.
JSO says that Atkinson refused to comply with demands, and after speaking with her for a few minutes, she ran towards the front of the house onto the street.
Officers chased after her, and once in the front yard, they had their guns drawn.
JSO says officers shouted at Atkinson to show them her hands, as they were in her waist.
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Two officers had guns drawn, and another had a taser. That officer deployed his taser, striking her, but she was able to defeat it and pulled a handgun from her waistband.
JSO says she was able to fire one shot at officers before two officers returned fire, striking her multiple times.
Atkinson then went to the ground, where officers disarmed her and performed CPR life-saving measures on her until the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department responded, and she was transported to a local hospital. They say she is now in critical condition.
“Just to be clear, they had this person at gunpoint, they tased her, and she was still able to defeat that taser and pull that handgun from her waist and get a shot off at the officers, and that’s when they returned fire,” Undersheriff Shawn Coarsey said.
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JSO says that Atkinson has had eight documented mental illness calls to this residence in the past.
“I’m encouraged by the fact that [officers] did everything they could to try and stop her from taking those type of actions, but she pulled a gun on her grandfather,” Sheriff T.K. Waters said. “So [if] she’ll pull a gun on her grandfather, she’ll pull a gun on the police officer.”
When asked about JSO’s process regarding mental health crises and co-responders, Coarsey says it depends on the call.
“We will use them if we know that the subject that’s in that crisis is not armed,” Coarsey said. “Anytime there’s an armed subject that’s in some type of mental crisis, we will never introduce a civilian in that.”
Coarsey also noted that Atkinson’s driver’s license shows them as a male, but hospital staff says they are biologically female.
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