BRADENTON, Fla. (WFLA) – Manatee County’s sheriff said the deputy who shot and killed an unarmed man in Bradenton did nothing wrong.
According to Sheriff Rick Wells, on Tuesday evening, 38-year-old Corey Mobley arranged to meet his estranged wife at a gas station on Cortez Road.
The couple was meeting to exchange children when they started fighting. Dramatic cell phone video shows Mobley yanking his wife out of the car as his son tries to stop him. After the incident, Mobley took off and led deputies on a high-speed chase.
Mobley got out of his car around 6th Street West and started “running [on foot] through the backyards and over fences,” said Sheriff Wells.
When a deputy and his K9 partner finally tracked him down, “the suspect, Mr Mobley, tells our deputy I got a gun for you!” described Wells. “The deputy at that time draws his weapon, he asked to see the suspect’s hand, the suspect continues to put his hands in his waistband as if he has a gun.”
Witness Malachi Alford says Mobley never showed his hands.
“He got shot. He got shot twice and then he got back up and walked towards the cops and they had shot him two more times,” Alford described.
“The deputy gave him every opportunity to remove his hands from his waistband and to surrender to the commands that were given him,” said Wells.
Mobley was later pronounced dead. The deputy later learned Mobley did not have a gun.
“We have not found a gun, even though he implied to our deputy several times that he had a gun and he was reaching into his waistband as if he was pulling out a gun,” said Wells. “There’s no doubt that he [followed protocol.] He did exactly what me or any other deputy would’ve done under the circumstances.”
Alford feels Mobley deserved to get shot.
“I mean yeah, he had told the cops that he was going to shoot them with a gun so, that’s suicide [by] cop,” said Alford.
The sheriff says Mobley has a small criminal record but there’s no indication why he took things this far.
“There’s nothing to indicate that his life was that bad that he would want to do that so we don’t know what his intentions were,” said Wells.
The deputy is taking it hard and is receiving counseling. He has not been identified yet.
The Manatee County Sheriff’s Office is handling the investigation and then it will be turned over to the State Attorney’s office.
