A Florida mother’s decision to confront the predator who was sending sexual messages to her 13-year-old daughter led to her being shot by police.
The unidentified mother learned Sunday that someone was involved in an “inappropriate text relationship” with her daughter on Sunday, Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Chief Alan Parker said at a news conference the next day.
He said the concerned mother decided to take her daughter’s phone and start texting the predator, who was later identified as 18-year-old Cerry Rodriques Banks, and agreed to meet him at a local Popeye’s at 7 a.m. The Florida Times-Union reports.
Banks still thought she was talking to the teen and agreed to the plan.
But when the mother showed up with her daughter and 11-year-old son at the restaurant on Monday, Banks allegedly showed them a gun tucked in her waistband and warned them, “When you hear the gunshots tonight, you’ll know what’s happening.” Parker said.
A Florida mother decided to confront an 18-year-old man who was texting with her 13-year-old daughter outside a Popeye’s in Jacksonville.
When the unidentified mother met with the suspect, Cerry Rodriques Banks, police say he pulled out his gun (pictured) and threatened the mother.
At that point, the mother entered the restaurant and called police, who responded about a half hour later and found Banks still outside.
Officer Garrion Robinson approached the suspect and went to handcuff him, when police say he began running around the back of the Popeye’s and Robinson chased him.
When Robinson finally turned a corner, he saw Banks pull a gun from his waistband, Parker said. according to Primera Costa Noticias.
‘He yells at him: “Drop, stop, gun, gun, gun,” he confronts the suspect; He shoots him several times,” said the chief.
Still, police say, Banks continued to flee.
“The suspect continues through the neighboring business and then drops the gun,” Parker said. ‘He continues running. The officer follows him and loses sight of him.
Officers then deployed a K-9 unit to try to locate Banks, eventually locating him hiding in a drainage culvert.
The suspect was given medical assistance at the scene, as Parker said he was shot “once in the hand, there’s something in the torso and maybe once (once) in the leg.”
The suspect remained at the scene when police arrived half an hour later.
Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Chief Alan Parker said a responding deputy tried to attack Banks after he pulled out his gun, but then fired multiple shots.
Banks is now being held on $700,000 bail while he recovers at a local hospital in stable condition.
He is now charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, lewd and lascivious conduct by an offender over the age of 18 on a victim under the age of 16, unlawful use of a two-way communication device, and traveling to meet after using a computer. to seduce/solicit/attract a child.
The shooting marks the third officer-involved shooting in Jacksonville over the past month, and Banks was the seventh person shot by police this year, with three people dead, according to the Times-Union.
But it is the first shooting Robinson has suffered in his seven years as an officer.
The sheriff’s office now says it will release body camera footage within 21 days to maintain transparency, while deputies urge anyone with a problem to call the department. CBS 12 reports.
“We would love to handle every situation, but this is a mother who is worried about her daughter,” Sheriff TK Waters said at the news conference. —So I get it, I get it.
“But I would say in most cases, in situations like that, call us and let us come out and take care of the situation so it doesn’t develop like that.”