Pinellas County Sheriff's Office Reviews Itself: says Shooting of Unarmed Black Man in the Back is OK

• Shooting warrants inquiry, SCLC says [more]

A report from the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office stated that a SWAT team deputy was justified in shooting to death 19-year-old Jarrell Walker. But the report added that the agency's use of force policy needs to be reviewed to ensure "it is consistent with agency values." The revisions should include a statement that deadly force be used as a last resort, according to the report from the Sheriff's Office shooting review board. Also, the agency's training of deputies and SWAT team members in the use of deadly force need to be reviewed to make sure they are consistent with the written policies, the report stated. On April 12, Christopher Taylor was the first SWAT team member to burst into Jarrell Walker's house in St. Petersburg to execute a narcotics search warrant. Taylor said Walker, who was lying on the floor next to a couch, refused to show his hands. Taylor fired two shots that struck Walker in the back. Walker died at the hospital. No gun was found under the couch near Walker, but a gun was found in another couch in an adjacent room. It is unclear what Walker was searching for under the couch. His family and community leaders have called for further investigation into the shooting. They have wondered why an unarmed man was shot in the back from only two to three feet away by an experienced SWAT team member. [more]