By Emily Wunderlich
Tampa Bay Times
TAMPA — The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating after a deputy shot and killed a man who pulled out a gun during a traffic stop Saturday night, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies had stopped the man for an obscured tag around 9:15 p.m. on West Hillsborough Avenue and Elliott Drive in Tampa, the sheriff’s office said in a news release. Deputies approached the vehicle and Deputy Jared Mincemeyer, 26, asked to see the man’s hands.
“The suspect briefly showed his hands,” the news release states. “Mincemeyer asked him to exit the vehicle, at which point the suspect reached for a firearm.”
When the man started to exit the car with the gun in his hand, Mincemeyer stepped back before shooting him, according to the sheriff’s office. The man was taken to St. Joseph’s Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The sheriff’s office did not identify the man who was killed, citing next of kin notification.
The office on Sunday evening released 45 seconds of body camera footage of the incident. The video includes footage from an unnamed undercover sheriff’s deputy who was standing on the passenger side of the man’s car at the time of the shooting.
“Our deputy was simply doing his job trying to protect our community when he was forced to defend himself against an armed individual,” Sheriff Chad Chronister said in the news release. “No deputy ever wants to face this situation, but when confronted with a deadly threat, they must act to protect themselves and others.”
The sheriff’s office said Mincemeyer had no prior uses of force on his record, and he has been with the agency since October 2022.
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