A Florida mother’s decision to confront the predator who was sexting her 13-year-old daughter led him to be shot by police.
The unidentified mother learned on Sunday that someone was engaged in an ‘inappropriate text relationship’ with her daughter on Sunday, Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Chief Alan Parker said at a news conference the following day.
He said the worried mom decided to take her daughter’s phone and start texting the predator, who was later identified as 18 year old Cerry Rodriques Banks, and arranged to meet up with him at a local Popeye’s at 7am., The Florida Times-Union reports.
Banks still thought he was talking to the teenager, and agreed with the plan.
But when the mother showed up with her daughter and her 11-year-old son to the restaurant on Monday, Banks allegedly showed them a gun tucked into his waistband and warned, ‘When you hear the shots tonight, you know what’s up,’ Parker said.
A Florida mother decided to confront the 18 year old who was sexting with her 13-year-old daughter outside of a Popeye’s in Jacksonville
When the unidentified mother met with the suspect, Cerry Rodriques Banks, police say he pulled out his pistol (pictured) and threatened the mother
At that point, the mother went inside the restaurant and called police, who responded about half an hour later, and found Banks still outside.
Responding Officer Garrion Robinson then approached the suspect and went to handcuff him, when police say he started running around the back of the Popeye’s, and Robinson chased him.
When Robinson eventually turns a corner, he saw Banks pull a pistol from his waistband, Parker said, according to First Coast News.
‘He yells for him, “Drop, stop, gun, gun, gun,” engages [the] suspect; he shoots him multiple times,’ the chief recounted.
Still, police say, Banks continued to flee.
‘The suspect continues around the neighboring business, then drops the gun,’ Parker said. ‘He continues running. The officer tracks him and loses sight of him.’
Officers then deployed a K-9 unit to try to track Banks down, and he was ultimately located hiding in a drainage culvert.
The suspect received medical assistance at the scene, as Parker said he was shot ‘once in his hand, there’s something in the torso and maybe one [time] in the leg.’
The suspect remained at the scene when police arrived half an hour later
Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Chief Alan Parker said a responding officer tried to engage Banks after he pulled out his pistol, but then fired multiple shots
Banks is now being held on a $700,000 bond, as he recovers at a local hospital in stable condition.
He is now charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, lewd and lascivious conduct by an offender over 18 against a victim less than 16, unlawful use of a two-way communication device and traveling to meet after using a computer to seduce/solicit/lure a child.
The shooting marks the third-officer involved shooting in Jacksonville over the past month, and Banks was the seventh person shot by police this year, with three people killed, according to the Times-Union.
But it is Robinson’s first shooting over his seven years as an officer.
The sheriff’s office now says it will release body camera footage within 21 days to maintain transparency, as officers urged anyone with a problem to call the department, CBS 12 reports.
‘We’d absolutely love to handle every situation, but this is a mother who’s concerned about her daughter,’ Sheriff TK Waters said at the news conference. ‘So I get it, I understand.
‘But I would say that in most cases, in situations like that, call us and let us come out and deal with the situation so it doesn’t unfold like this.’