Jamee Johnson

Jamee Johnson, 22, a Florida A&M University student, was shot and killed by Jacksonville Sheriff's Officer Josue Garriga during a traffic stop for a seatbelt violation on December 14, 2019. Body camera footage showed Johnson telling Garriga he had a legally owned handgun in the car; after Garriga asked him to step out, Johnson dove back into the vehicle, a struggle followed, and Garriga shot him four times, with video capturing Johnson begging for his life. Garriga said Johnson was reaching for the gun; the family's attorney argued the autopsy's bullet trajectories contradicted that account. Florida's State Attorney's Office concluded in July 2020 that the shooting was justified, declining to bring charges. The city later settled a federal civil lawsuit with Johnson's family for $200,000, without admitting wrongdoing. In 2024, Garriga was separately arrested and charged with child sex crimes unrelated to the shooting. No one has ever been charged in Johnson's death.

Jacksonville, FL · Duval County

• 2019: Case opens — victim reported missing or found.
• Documented milestones (renewed investigation, media coverage, family advocacy) to be added as sourced.
• Present: case remains unresolved. No named suspect has been convicted.

• The traffic stop, the struggle, and the shooting, per State Attorney's Office body camera footage and its published investigation report.
• Johnson told Garriga at the start of the stop that he had a firearm in the car; he did not have a concealed carry permit.
• Garriga stated Johnson dove back into the car, then began lifting the firearm toward his face during the struggle, and that he fired after freeing himself from the vehicle, fearing Johnson still had the gun.
• The State Attorney's Office released its investigation report and the body camera footage publicly in July 2020, concluding the shooting was justified and declining to file charges.
• The family's attorney, Harry Daniels, argued that autopsy findings showing Johnson was struck left-to-right contradicted Garriga's account of the shooting's sequence and positioning, and that video showed Johnson exiting the car with his hands raised before the fatal shots.
• The City of Jacksonville settled the family's federal civil rights lawsuit for $200,000 in 2023, without admitting Garriga did anything wrong, citing the uncertainty of a trial; the family had originally sought $5 million.
• In 2024, Garriga, who had since left the department, was arrested on unrelated charges of child sex crimes in Clay County, Florida — a case entirely separate from the Johnson shooting.

• Whether Johnson was in fact reaching for or holding the firearm at the moment Garriga fired, as Garriga maintained, or whether physical evidence contradicts that account, as the family's attorney argued based on the autopsy's bullet trajectories, was never tested at any criminal trial.
• The specific reasoning behind the State Attorney's Office's justified-shooting finding, beyond its published report, has been publicly disputed by the family's attorney but not independently re-examined by any other authority.
• Whether Garriga's later, unrelated arrest reflects anything about his conduct or character at the time of the 2019 shooting has not been established and is a separate matter the State Attorney's investigation did not address.

• News4Jax (WJXT) — “Prosecutor: Jacksonville officer justified in 2019 deadly shooting of 22-year-old”
• First Coast News — “Family of Jamee Johnson files lawsuit disputing official account of 2019 police shooting death”
• First Coast News — “City of Jacksonville to pay $200,000 to Jamee Johnson's family”
• Project Cold Case
• Murder Accountability Project
• NamUs