Deputies' Shooting Actions Found Justifiable In St. Pete Domestic Violence Incident

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — Two Pinellas County Sheriff's Office deputies' actions of killing a man who had been involved in child abuse and domestic violence at his ex-girlfriend's St. Petersburg home Oct. 4 have been found justified, according to a State Attorney's letter.

Fifty-year-old Chad Allen Jenkins showed up to his ex's house that night making threats to her stemming from her phone accidentally dialing him earlier in the day, State Attorney Bruce Bartlett said. He had asked her through text what she wanted, and she told him that she didn't mean to call him. She had broken up with him three weeks prior to this incident when she found out he simultaneously dated another woman, officials said. Throughout the day, he kept calling and texting her.

Jenkins went to her house located in the 3400 block of 38th Street North, according to Bartlett. He rang her doorbell and she didn't answer. He then played a message she left on his voicemail the day she had broken up with him on her Ring camera.

Authorities said he later went back to her house at 9 p.m., and camera footage shows him getting upset as she refused to open her door and speak with him.

"Jenkins said, 'I will be right back, and you will have to call the f---ing cops. Do you want to call the f---ing cops now and have them f---ing kill me?' Jenkins said, 'You can't keep f---ing threatening me on the phone' and, 'I swear to God, you don't want me coming back'," Bartlett said in the letter.

He grabbed his ex's arm when she opened the door and pulled her to the ground, officers said. The ex told deputies that Jenkins then went toward her son and punched him in the face. She got up and fought with Jenkins, and then he ran back to his car telling her he had a gun and he would be waiting.

Jenkins went back to his home not far from his ex's house, police said. Shortly after, Pinellas County Sheriff's Office deputies saw Jenkins leave his house and go inside his vehicle. Officers feared that he might be getting ready to return to the other house and that he was most likely armed, investigators said.

Corporal Casey Hunter ran to the driver's side of vehicle, and three other deputies also ran toward the vehicle with all of their body cameras activated, detectives said. Hunter commanded him to not to move. Jenkins ignored his commands, and grabbed something from the glovebox.

"As Corporal Hunter moved closer to the open car door, he saw a firearm in the right of Chad Jenkins," Bartlett said. "Jenkins turned and looked at Corporal Hunter and pointed the firearm at him. Corporal Hunter, afraid of being shot, immediately fired his SIG 516 rifle multiple times at Jenkins."

Detectives said Deputy Derric Gandee—Lunsford stood at the back passenger side of the vehicle when Hunger began shooting. Gandee—Lunsford shot his Glock multiple times, according to body cam footage officers reviewed.

An autopsy was performed and it concluded that Jenkins died of multiple gunshot wounds, according to law enforcement.

"Corporal Hunter and Deputy Gandee—Lunsford shot Chad Jenkins while in the performance of their legal duties and the death constitutes justifiable homicide,"Bartlett said.

The St. Petersburg Police Department investigated the case.