After a man set parts of a home on fire and ran off with a knife, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office tracked him down and a K-9 officer shot and killed him during a confrontation.
It becomes the 13th police shooting of 2025 in Jacksonville with nine killed. It well surpasses last year’s total of eight for all of 2024 when only three were killed. It also equals 2023’s total both in number of people shot and those who died, Times-Union records show.
Seven of the cases this year involved mental health or suicidal issues, the records show. Officers also were fired on first in four police shootings and two were struck.
This one began with a call from a mother about 7 a.m. for a mental health episode on Aug. 13 by her son at the home of a neighbor in the 1500 block of 16th Street in the Talleyrand/Longbranch area, Chief Alan Parker said. It was upgraded to arson when the man started fires in two locations at the home and ran off with a knife.
The fires were put out as the Sheriff’s Office searched for the man for about an hour and a half.
The description had gone out about the suspect, including that he had been wounded in a previous shooting and had some facial disfigurement. One of the K-9 officers spotted him about 10 blocks away in the area of Buckman and East 25th streets. He called him by name ordering him to stop or he would release his dog on him, Parker said, but the man ran off again.
When the officer caught up with him in his patrol vehicle, he got out with his Taser in hand.
“As he comes out, the suspect threatens him, puts the knife out toward him twice, saying ‘Get back, get back,'” Parker said. “So the officer engages him, lets go of his Taser, drops it in the street and he shoots him with his pistol.”
Once he threatens him with the knife, “That’s a lethal encounter, at that point he goes to lethal force,” the chief said.
He still had the knife in one of his hands, but officers were able to get it out to render aid, Parker said. He did not survive the five shots. He has been identified as 30-year-old Brian Alexander Gillis. Court records show he has now criminal history in Jacksonville.
The officer was 11-year veteran Caleb Bumgarner, and it was his first shooting, Parker said.
(This story was updated with the name of the man killed.)
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: ‘Lethal force’ used as Jacksonville police shoot man wielding a knife who set fire to home
Reporting by Scott Butler, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union / Florida Times-Union
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
