The family of 22-year-old Asia Bennett, who died after being shot by a Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office officer on August 11, is pushing for the release of body camera footage before they lay her to rest.
Officers were sent to a home on Westdale Drive around 10:45 p.m. that Tuesday after a report of a battery with injuries. According to JSO, the man at the home told the first responding officer that he had argued with Bennett, his girlfriend, and that she was inside holding a knife.
JSO says Bennett then walked outside carrying several items, and when the officer ordered her to drop them, she kept hold of a large kitchen knife and moved toward him. That officer, now identified as 26-year-old Erin Gaitten, fired once. Bennett fell to the ground but reportedly still had the knife and tried getting back up, which is when Gaitten fired a second time.
Fire and rescue crews treated Bennett at the scene before she was taken to a hospital, where she died. Five other people were inside the home when the shooting happened, and Bennett’s boyfriend was treated for minor injuries.
Family attorney Ben Crump — along with lead attorney Chance Lynch — says that account doesn’t match what witnesses are describing. Crump has said witnesses heard Bennett crying out for help when officers first arrived, and that the two shots were fired within moments of each other.
Bennett’s mother, Crissy Duncan, has pushed back hard against how her daughter is being portrayed, pointing out that Bennett was 22 and weighed about 110 pounds. The family says JSO brought up an old arrest against Bennett almost immediately after the shooting — but records show a state attorney in the Special Victims Unit had already declined to prosecute that case back in May, after determining Bennett was the victim, not the aggressor. Attorneys for the family also say the officer who wrote that April report was later reprimanded.
This marks JSO’s 13th officer-involved shooting of the year, according to the department. The State Attorney’s Office has opened an investigation, and a use-of-force review by JSO is expected to follow.
At a press conference this week, Bennett’s aunt, Crystal Gerhold, told reporters she helped raise her niece and described her as someone who never wanted to be the center of attention. Gerhold also said the family received an apology from JSO.
So far, JSO has not released the body camera footage. When asked about the request, a JSO spokesperson pointed to department policy: the agency releases such footage within 21 days of a critical incident, unless there’s an investigative reason not to. Bennett’s funeral was scheduled for this past Monday.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
