CRIME

Police Shoot, Kill Domestic Violence Suspect

By Abby Baker

Two Pinellas County Sheriff’s Deputies shot and killed Chad Allen Jenkins, 50, on the night of Monday, October 4 in St. Petersburg while they were attempting to arrest him on domestic violence charges.

The deputies initiated contact with an armed Jenkins at 3949 38th St. N., and fired shots after he refused to put down a sighted firearm, police reported.

“Jenkins sustained gunshot wounds that resulted in his death,” the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office released.

Deputies were called earlier Monday night after Jenkins was suspected of hitting his ex-girlfriend, and then her teenage son when he tried to stop the attack, St. Petersburg Police Chief Anthony Holloway said in a Tuesday press conference.

A doorbell camera on Jenkin’s ex-girlfriend’s property recorded him saying suicidal messages and revealing a firearm.

Deputies arrived with the intention of arresting him on probable cause for child abuse, a felony, and misdemeanor domestic battery.

Shortly after Jenkin’s death Monday night, the Pinellas County Use of Deadly Force Investigative Task Force was activated. The program prevents law enforcement agencies from conducting investigations of their own use-of-force incidents.

On Tuesday, the St. Petersburg Police Department released a statement that “​Pinellas County Sheriff’s Corporal Casey Hunter and Deputy Derric Gandee-Lunsford are on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.”