Jacksonville officer involved shooting captured on video / Victim Identified

David Daniel McBrayer

Body-mounted cameras worn by Jacksonville police officers recorded a deadly officer-involved shooting Tuesday night.

Assistant police chief Bill Wineman said the department is working with the State Bureau of Investigation and provided the SBI with footage recorded on Taser Axon Flex cameras. The officers wear the head-mounted cameras to capture video of everything they see.  The footage shows 26-year-old David Daniel McBrayer as he walked through the parking lot at Coliseum Apartments. McBrayer had a knife in his hand, and an officer walked with McBrayer and told him to put it down.  A second officer walks into the frame of the video, and McBrayer sticks the knife out in his direction. The second officer was about four feet away. Wineman said officers are trained to defend themselves if someone with a knife gets too close.

Police said with a knife extended towards him, the officer shot McBrayer. Wineman said that officer also wore a camera.

Investigators first went to the apartments around 10:30 Tuesday night.  Someone who lives there called to report a man walking through the parking lot shooting at cars with a B.B. gun.  Officers arrived and found damaged cars, but the suspect was gone.

The caller contacted police again shortly after 11 p.m. and said the man was back.  Wineman said officers returned and saw the man reach into his car and pull out a knife.  Jacksonville police had arrested McBrayer on November 8 for disorderly conduct at the Dollar General store less than two blocks from the apartment.  Investigators said he is from the Atlanta area and recently came to Jacksonville. 

The police department placed the officer on paid administrative leave.  Wineman said the officer joined Jacksonville police about four years ago.  He previously served in Iraq as a member of the Army special forces.  Counseling will be provided if the officer requests it, and the department also contacted a local organization about critical incident stress debreifing.

Wineman said this is the first fatal officer-involved shooting in the city during his 30 years with the Jacksonville Police Department.