Fort Myers police shooting: 3 months on, cops won't confirm if Christopher Jordan was armed

More than three months after a Fort Myers police officer fatally shot Dunbar resident Christopher Jordan, local officials continue to withhold information – including whether Jordan was armed when he was killed.

That silence contradicts recommendations from the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services. In a 2016 report, those agencies urged departments to release facts about officer involved shootings as soon as a preliminary investigation is completed.

“The department should provide basic information regarding the incident to the press as soon as practicable, assuming it will not inhibit or undermine the investigation,” the report says. “Doing so will discourage the press from speculation or uninformed commentary that could be detrimental to the involved officer and the agency alike.”

In a press release shortly after the shooting on Dec. 3, police said that they were responding to a domestic violence call at Jordan’s home and shot him when he pointed a firearm at officers, following a 40-minute standoff. Since that initial statement, police have kept their mouths shut, saying they had turned over the investigation to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

But Jordan’s relatives and the Lee County NAACP have questioned the police narrative, saying Jordan was at worst a petty criminal who was not known to carry a gun. In January, the NAACP received an anonymous letter purportedly from a department insider, alleging that emails between Police Chief Jason Fields and his command staff would prove that Fields knew Jordan was unarmed yet still released the statement saying he had a gun.

The News-Press filed a public records request in January for emails from around the time of the shooting in the inboxes of Fields and his top deputies. The department released 227 pages of those emails last week; none show Fields or his command staff discussing whether Jordan was not actually armed. Many were about other shootings.

NAACP officials met with the FBI in February to request a federal investigation into the shooting. Agents confirmed that an investigation was open, said Sarah Wilson, co-chair of the Lee County NAACP’s criminal justice committee.

“There is still so much information left on the table that has not been addressed whatsoever,” Wilson said after the meeting.

When reporters requested the incident report for the domestic violence call, it was provided – completely redacted. And police have declined to confirm whether a gun was found at the scene.

Police later released the 911 call that prompted officers to respond as well as some body camera footage from the scene, though not video of the shooting itself. In those recordings, the reporting witness tells police that Jordan had threatened her with a gun.

FDLE has now completed its investigation, which is currently being reviewed by the Office of State Attorney Amira Fox. FDLE, the State Attorney’s Office and the Fort Myers Police Department have all refused to release any additional information, citing the ongoing review.

On Monday night, the Lee County NAACP released a statement accusing State Attorney Amira Fox of dodging requests for a meeting about the case.

On March 1, the Jordan family and the NAACP attempted to meet with Fox after sending an official request, the news release said. It said that while going through security, two unidentified investigators told them Fox wasn't in the office and she would contact them for a meeting the week of March 4.

"The State Attorney's Office lied," the release said. "The NAACP has also called her office to communicate our request for a meeting. This is looming larger and larger as a cover-up!"

Asked to comment, the Office of State Attorney Amira Fox and FDLE again declined to release additional information about the shooting. Fort Myers Police did not respond prior to publication.

"I will not disclose information in an active investigation and I will not share or discuss thecontents of an active investigation with anyone outside of law enforcement. This wouldjeopardize the integrity of the investigation," Fox wrote in a statement. "Despite the reckless and irresponsible comments of the NAACP, I will meet with them when the time is appropriate."

Fox noted in her statement that information about active criminal investigations is exempt from Florida's public records law, meaning that her office is not legally required to disclose details about the case.

"While our investigation is active, no additional information will be provided," FDLE Communications Coordinator Jensen Rayburn wrote in an email. "FDLE does not release the names of witnesses, victims or suspects while investigations are active."

Authorities have also refused to release the name of the officer who fired the fatal shot – a decision that has frustrated the NAACP and Jordan’s family. The 2016 DOJ report warns that departments risk losing the trust of the community when they withhold the identities of officers involved in fatal shootings.

“The issue of when to release the name of the officer(s) involved in a shooting has been widely debated without providing a definitive answer. It is clear however, that a police shooting, particularly when the death of a civilian or officer is involved, garners intense interest and scrutiny among the media and the public,” the report states. “In addition, the longer the law enforcement agency withholds this information, the greater the appearance that the agency is protecting its own personnel at the expense of transparency within the community.”

The emails released last week were from the the inboxes of City Manager Marty Lawing, Police Chief Jason Fields, Deputy Chief Victor Medico, Police Chief of Staff Randall Jones and Deputy Chief Richard Meeks. The News-Press also requested text messages from the weekend of the shooting between police officials, Lawing and City Attorney Grant Alley.

The emails shed little light on the circumstances of the shooting. Both the department and the city said no texts existed between Lawing, Alley and Fields’ top command staff from the days after the shooting.

Emails show that Fields, Meeks, Medico and Lawing were scheduled to attend a debrief with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement on December 7, though no information on the subject of that meeting was included.

An email from the night of the shooting also shows that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement approved the initial statement saying that Jordan pointed a gun at officers before he was killed.

Stacey Henson, breaking news and visuals editor for The News-Press and Naples Daily News, contributed to this story.

This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Fort Myers shooting: Police won't confirm if Fort Myers man armed