Manatee deputy kills suspect in Bradenton after man tried to run him over, sheriff says

A Manatee County Sheriff’s Office deputy shot and killed a suspect early Wednesday, after the man tried to hit the deputy with his car, the sheriff’s office said.

At about 12:30 a.m., a deputy spotted a car headed west on Cortez Road that had a shredded front tire and heavy front end damage. He called for backup before attempting a traffic stop, according to sheriff’s office spokesman Randy Warren.

“So he initiated a traffic stop to try and figure out exactly what happened with that vehicle,” Warren said. “That vehicle did not want to stop.”

But the driver, later identified as Justin Lee Stackhouse, drove off, going about 40 mph before he tried to turn into the east entrance to Walmart. He lost control and ended up on the curb, according to the sheriff’s office. The deputy said he pulled along the left side of Stackhouse’s car when his backup pulled up behind him.

“That deputy got of his vehicle,” Warren said. “Just as he got out of the vehicle, the car began reversing back toward the deputy. That’s when shots were fired by that deputy. Multiple shots. And then the car turned. The driver had been apparently hit and injured. He was then able to drive down a few more yards and came to a stop.”

Sheriff: Suspect fled traffic stop on Cortez Road

Stackhouse drove west in the eastbound lanes a short distance before stopping on the curb of the west entrance to Walmart. The deputies performed CPR before Stackhouse was taken to Blake Medical Center where he died at about 1:40 a.m. from multiple gunshot wounds.

The sheriff’s office has not yet released the names of the two deputies involved. The deputy who shot Stackhouse has been placed on paid administrative leave, which is standard policy in deputy-involved shootings.

Warren said the sheriff’s office is investigating the incident as an officer-involved shooting. Detectives are also investigating the circumstances leading up to the shooting.

“We don’t know where he had come from, why he was heading westbound on Cortez Road, why his vehicle was damaged or why he did not want to pull over and let deputies talk to him about why his rim was exposed,” Warren said.

Deputies and the sheriff’s office crime scene unit were on scene for more than three hours. Cortez Road was closed through most of the investigation, but it was reopened by 6 a.m.

The sheriff’s office said the deputies involved in the shooting did not have dashboard cameras in their cars.

Suspect’s criminal history

Stackhouse had numerous run-in’s with law enforcement, according to court records.

Most recently, Stackhouse was released from prison in September after serving more than two years of a four-year sentence out of Sarasota County for fleeing to elude law enforcement and habitually driving with a suspended license convictions, according to Florida Department of Corrections records.

Stackhouse was arrested and charged in two separate cases against him in Manatee County in August 2016.

On Aug. 19, 2016, Stackhouse was arguing with a woman on Facebook when he challenged her to a fight. Stackhouse, and others drove to the victim’s house, according to court records. A man came out of the woman’s house and tried to leave the area. Deputies say Stackhouse placed a gun to his head and then threatened the woman with a baseball bat.

Stackhouse was initially charged with aggravated assault, possession of a controlled substance and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Prosecutors only formally charged Stackhouse with possession of a controlled substance, which he later pleaded no contest to and was sentenced to 11 months in the Manatee County jail.

At the time of his arrest in the case, Stackhouse had a warrant for his arrest on charges of felony driving while license suspended, being a habitual offender and fleeing to elude law enforcement for an Aug. 9, 2016,incident but the state attorney’s office later declined to prosecute the case.

Stackhouse’s criminal history also includes convictions for possession with intent to sell a controlled substance, sale of a controlled substance within 1,000 feet of a place of worship and criminal mischief.

Local law enforcement were also very familiar with Stackhouse’s brothers, including his twin.

His twin, Kyle Stackhouse was charged with second-degree murder with a firearm in the March 12, 2016, fatal shooting of 24-year-old Nicolette Johnson. According to sheriff’s office detectives, the murder was in retaliation for Kyle Stackhouse and their younger brother, Ronnie Stackhouse, being shot in 2015.

The murder charge was eventually dropped in August 2017, because prosecutors said there was a lack of evidence.

This story was originally published February 26, 2020 at 5:19 AM.