Shocking Video Shows Florida Cops Burst Through Window and Shoot and Kill Woman’s Knife-Wielding Attacker

WARNING: The above video includes content that some may find disturbing.

The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office released shocking video from police body cameras showing an incident that happened Thursday evening in Tampa, Florida, in which HCSO deputies burst through a glass window covered in Christmas decorations to rescue a woman being held at knifepoint, eventually shooting and killing her assailant.

A press release from the HCSO described the incident involving a 47-year-old man named Jason Douglas Paul:

On December 5, 2024, at approximately 9 p.m., our 911 center received a call about a dispute between neighbors at an apartment complex at Camden Street in Tampa. The caller claimed his neighbor assaulted him. When our deputies arrived, they made contact with Jason Douglas Paul, 47, who made the 911 call. Paul was acting erratically and threatening to kill his neighbor.

As deputies tried to de-escalate the situation, Paul continued making threats to kill his neighbor and, therefore, our deputies decided to Baker Act Paul. He then entered his home and refused to come out.

Our deputies continued to ask Paul to come outside. Through a window, deputies saw the suspect holding a knife and started to hear an adult female screaming. At this time, Paul took the female at knifepoint into a back bedroom. Fearing for her safety, deputies quickly broke through a window and entered the home.

Deputies went to the back bedroom and ordered Paul to put the knife down multiple times. Paul refused to drop the knife, and Deputy John Howes, 30, discharged his firearm and struck Paul.

Deputies rendered aid to Paul until EMS arrived and transported him to St. Joseph’s Hospital, where he was pronounced deceased.

The roughly two-minute video clip from the deputies’ bodycams shows them arriving on the porch of the residence, seeing Paul with the knife, and hearing the woman scream. They burst through the front window and rushed into the home, dragging tinsel along with them as they confronted Paul, ultimately shooting him. The video blurs Paul from the moment he is shot.

“Our deputies sprang to action when confronted with a situation where someone’s life was in immediate danger,” said Sheriff Chad Chronister. “Our deputies are trained to protect innocent lives, and that’s what they did.”

According to the HCSO, Paul’s past criminal history includes Aggravated Battery With a Deadly Weapon and Resisting an Officer Without Violence in 2005, and an arrest for DUI in 1999.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is handling the investigation of this officer-involved shooting.

HCSO Chief Deputy Joseph Maurer provided additional details in a press conference.

Video provided by Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.