Deputies shoot, kill man who refused to drop gun, St. Pete police say

LEALMAN — Two Pinellas deputies shot and killed a man who failed to drop a gun when they ordered him to, St. Petersburg police said.

The deputies responded to a home on 42nd Avenue N around 9 p.m. Monday for a domestic dispute between a woman and her ex-boyfriend, police Chief Anthony Holloway said at a Tuesday news conference. The man, later identified as 50-year-old Chad Allen Jenkins, had hit the woman as well as her son as the boy tried to stop the beating, according to witness statements and video from a doorbell camera.

“The child came to his mom’s rescue,” Holloway said, “but he also hit the child.”

The two deputies developed enough information to arrest Jenkins on charges of domestic violence and child abuse, and went to his home, 3949 38th St. N in St. Petersburg, about 90 minutes later, Holloway said.

Jenkins got into his car to leave before the deputies could reach him. They attempted to approach him in his car but saw he had a gun. The deputies told him to put the weapon down but he didn’t, Holloway said, and they fired several rounds into the car.

Jenkins was hit a number of times and died at the scene, Holloway said. The two deputies, Cpl. Casey Hunter and Deputy Derric Gandee-Lunsford, are on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.

Holloway said he does not believe Jenkins fired his gun.

The video from the home of Jenkins’ ex-girlfriend showed him making suicidal comments, Holloway said. Because of this, deputies developed a plan before approaching him but the plan changed once he walked out holding the gun, Holloway said.

“They had several things they had planned out to do but the deceased came out of the home before they could put their plan in place,” Holloway said.

Holloway said the mother and child received minor injuries when they were struck by Jenkins. He did not identify them.

Jenkins had been issued a risk protection order that prohibited him from possessing a gun from December 2018 to July 2020, Holloway said.

Court records show a final settlement was reached Oct. 1 in Jenkins’ divorce from his wife, Michelle Lynn Jenkins. The case originally was filed more than two years earlier, in March 2019. His wife had filed a domestic violence injunction against Jenkins in December 2018. The injunction was dismissed in February 2020.

The St. Petersburg Police Department is investigating the shooting through the Pinellas County Use of Deadly Force Investigative Task Force. Law enforcement agencies no longer investigate their own officers in use-of-force incidents. The task force was formed in 2020 by a consortium of local agencies.

The shooting is the second death in 24 hours in Pinellas County that arises from domestic violence. Early Monday, a man fatally shot his ex-girlfriend then himself in the parking lot of a business in Pinellas Park.