Jacksonville police shoot knife-wielding man

Jacksonville police shot a man who they said charged at them wielding both a machete-style knife as well as a dagger-like knife while threatening to cut their heads off Saturday morning near McDonald's at East State and North Market streets downtown.

Cody Nathanael Marsh, 19, of Orange Park was swinging the knives wildly as he was shot in the head and arm about 3:30 a.m. when Officers James White and Johnathan Cochran opened fire almost simultaneously as he rushed toward White, said Chief Chris Butler of the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office.

Also armed with several other knives, Marsh was taken in critical condition to UF Health Jacksonville. Neither White nor Cochran was injured, Butler said.

"The suspect in this case, he had the opportunity to surrender, drop the knives. … At any point he could have stopped, surrendered and we would have been more than happy to get him the help that he wanted. However, he changed the outcome of the situation by deciding to charge the officer," Butler said.

Butler said White fired three shots, while Cochran fired once. It was unknown which officer's bullets struck Marsh. He said White is an eight-year Sheriff's Office veteran who's been involved in one prior shooting. Nobody was hit in that incident several years ago, Butler said.

It was the first shooting incident involving Cochran, who has been with the agency two years, Butler said.

Marsh had been Baker-Acted into a mental health treatment facility for making suicide threats last October. In 2014, Marsh was arrested in Clay County for bringing an Airsoft gun into a school. But Marsh has had no prior interaction with the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, Butler said.

Butler said about 2:30 a.m. Saturday, a family member left Marsh at a Jacksonville shelter because he had said he had taken drugs and the family member didn't know what else to do.

"The family member, in his opinion, felt that he [Marsh] should not come back home or be with the family at this point because of his drug use. So, they thought the safest thing to would be to take him to an area shelter where he could spend the night. Obviously, he didn't do that," said Butler, who didn't identify the shelter and said he didn't know what type of drugs Marsh might have taken.

At 3:34 a.m., Marsh called 911 and told the Sheriff's Office dispatcher that he had been mugged. During the call, Marsh changed his story repeatedly about what happened, was vague and said he was near the McDonald's at Market and State streets. Marsh also became abusive, yelling at the dispatcher and making racist comments and spewing obscenities, Butler said.

As police were dispatched to the McDonald's, the restaurant manager called 911 and said a man - later identified as Marsh - had two very large blade knives and was banging on the glass doors, demanding to come inside, Butler said.

Arriving officers didn't initially see Marsh but then heard him yell from across the street and behind them. He said "here I am, come get me," and then ran to the L-shaped parking lot between 300 State St. and 300 Union St. between some businesses. Police set up a perimeter in an effort to contain Marsh, and protect any passers-by. Marsh initially complied with the officers' orders to back up, Butler said.

But he continued swinging two knives - one resembling a machete and the other similar to a dagger - wildly about his body.

"He then made threats to the officers, saying he was going to cut their heads off. That he was going to slash them, and he was going to throw the knives at them as well," Butler said.

He said Cochran was on the Market Street side of the parking lot, and White was on the Union Street side of the parking lot. White began moving closer to Marsh because he was concerned he could possibly escape, said Butler.

Marsh then turned his attention to White, Butler said.

"The suspect raised the knife and charged at the officer. At that time, almost simultaneously, Officer Cochran discharged his department-issued handgun one time at the suspect and Officer White discharged his department handgun at the suspect three times," Butler said.

He estimated that White fired when he was about 45 feet from Marsh as he was running toward him closing that initial gap between them. Cochran was about 90 feet away when he fired, Butler said.

Both officers will be on administrative leave with pay during the investigation, Butler said.

Teresa Stepzinski: (904) 359-4075