Bodycam Footage Shows Deputy Shooting, Killing Suspect Holding Knife To Woman's Neck

Posted • December 10, 2024: A Hillsborough County deputy shot and killed a man as he was holding a knife to a woman's neck Thursday night in Tampa, according to the sheriff's office. Deputies first responded after 9 p.m. to an apartment on Camden Street. They reportedly received a 911 call from a man claiming that his neighbor punched him. When they arrived, the man who made the 911 call, later identified as 47-year-old Jason Paul, was "extremely erratic in his conversation" and "very hostile," Chief Deputy Joseph Maurer said at a news conference. Despite the deputies' attempts to de-escalate the situation, Paul "continued his hostile and aggressive and violent behavior," according to Maurer. As deputies were speaking to the other party involved, Paul reportedly said, "He is lucky I didn't snap his neck and kill him," before threatening to get his gun.

Maurer said Paul then entered his second-floor apartment and locked the door. That's when deputies decided he needed to be, Baker Acted. As deputies asked Paul to come outside, he reportedly continued his aggressive behavior and told deputies, "I'm gonna kill you." Paul's mother gave deputies a key to the apartment, but once they opened the door, they heard a woman screaming, according to the sheriff's office. Deputies broke the window to get into the apartment and reportedly saw Paul holding a knife. Maurer said Paul ignored deputies' orders to drop the knife, instead grabbing the woman by her neck and pulling her into the bedroom. As Paul was holding the knife against the woman's body, deputies shot and killed him, according to the sheriff's office. Maurer said there was one prior 911 call for a "similar situation" involving Paul at this address in 2021. Witnesses told deputies Paul had a history of yelling and attacking his neighbors.

The deputy who shot and killed the suspect was identified as Deputy John Howes. He has no history of use of deadly force, according to the sheriff's office. "Our deputies sprang to action when confronted with a situation where someone's life was in immediate danger," Sheriff Chad Chronister said in a statement. "Our deputies are trained to protect innocent lives, and that's what they did."