ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — The St. Johns County Sheriff's Office has identified a 28-year-old man shot and killed by law enforcement in St. Augustine Tuesday night as Dustin James Acosta.
Investigators say he pointed a gun at a police officer and a sheriff’s deputy.
The officers were placed on administrative leave, per protocol.
"There was a lot of yelling around 9 p.m. and then it escalated," Laura Baldwin remembered Wednesday. She lives near the townhouse where she could hear someone outside call 911.
According to the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office, that person who called 911, asked for help because Acosta was drunk and wanting to drive a car.
When a St. Johns County deputy and a St. Augustine Police officer arrived, the sheriff’s office said they knocked, announced themselves, heard someone on the other side, and opened the door. They saw Acosta inside his home with a gun. He was in a chair and appeared despondent.
"Those individuals (the police officer and the deputy) immediately began to mitigate the situation and tried to de-escalate that, attempting to get the man to put the firearm down and talk with him," St. Johns County Sheriff's Office Spokesman Chuck Mulligan said.
According to Mulligan, that's when Acosta pointed the gun at the deputy and the officer who was standing in the doorway. They fired at Acosta and he died at the scene.
No word from authorities how many shots were fired. However, Baldwin, the neighbor said, "We felt we heard eight. It happened so fast."
Mulligan said Acosta did not get any rounds off, but the gun was loaded and had a round in the chamber.
Acosta has been arrested several times by police and the sheriff’s office. Charges range from resisting an officer without violence, retail theft, marijuana possession, trespassing on school property, and reckless driving.
Baldwin noted, "There have always been cops in and out of this area with that house. I always kind of expected something was going to happen, but I didn’t think it would be like this."
As for body cameras, the sheriff's office does not use them. The St. Augustine Police Department will start using body cameras in December.