NASSAU COUNTY, Fla. — New documents released Friday are revealing what happened during the moments before a Nassau County Sheriff's Office deputy was shot and killed during a traffic stop last week.
According to an arrest affidavit, Deputy Joshua Moyers conducted a traffic stop at the intersection of U.S. Highway 301 and Sandy Ford Road in Callahan on Sept. 23 around 11:49 p.m.
During the traffic stop, Moyers got out of his patrol car and approached the vehicle, a maroon 2019 Chrysler Town and Country van, which was being driven by a man with a woman in the passenger seat.
After approaching the van, Moyers was shot two times by the driver, later identified as 35-year-old Patrick McDowell, the affidavit says.
Moyers, 29, was transported to UF Health in Jacksonville where he later died on Sept. 26.
During an interview with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the woman told investigators that McDowell picked her up from a home in Jacksonville around 9 p.m.
She added that they were going to go trail riding. After leaving the home, McDowell stopped behind a Big Lots in Jacksonville and entered the back seat of another vehicle. A few minutes later, he returned to the van and put an unknown substance in the glove box, the woman told investigators.
The two then headed to Nassau County where the van was stopped for a traffic violation.
The woman told officers that after leaving a gas station, they were stopped by law enforcement. When Deputy Moyers activated his emergency lights for the vehicle to stop, McDowell told the woman, "I'm not stopping. I'm not going to jail," the affidavit says.
Investigators say the woman then told him he needed to stop and McDowell replied, "It's either me or him."
McDowell eventually stopped the van and provided his vehicle registration and identification to the deputy. After handing Moyers the papers, McDowell reached behind the seat, grabbed a firearm and shot the deputy, the affidavit says.
After he fired the first shot, the women told investigators that McDowell leaned out the window and shot Moyers again.
McDowell then drove away from the scene and made the woman stay inside the vehicle even though she was asking to get out, investigators say.
Minutes later, he stopped driving and they both exited the vehicle and hid under a trailer.
The woman was able to convince McDowell to let her go but he made her turn off her phone. After she got away, she turned the phone back on and called 911. She was placed into custody for questioning shortly after.
A multi-agency search was conducted in an attempt to find McDowell. The affidavit says a Jacksonville Sheriff's Office K-9 tried to apprehend McDowell during the search but was shot twice. McDowell shot the K-9 in the stomach and the leg before fleeing the area.
McDowell ended up leading deputies on a five-day manhunt that involved multiple agencies before being captured on Tuesday.
Days later he was released from the hospital, where he was being treated for injuries from his capture, and booked into jail Thursday evening.
He is being charged with first-degree murder and aggravated battery on a police dog.
