Nov. 2024. Blues Vol 40 No. 11

AROUND THE COUNTRY

AROUND THE COUNTRY JACKSONVILLE, FL. Corrections Officer Brad McNew was shot and killed at the Love’s Travel Stop in Jacksonville after intervening in a domestic altercation. JACKSONVILLE, FL. – An off-duty Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office corrections officer was shot and killed early Saturday when he tried to intervene in a violent dispute between a man and woman at a truck stop near Jacksonville International Airport. Officer Bradley McNew, a 24- year Sheriff’s Office veteran, died after being shot by the man at about 1:20 a.m. in the parking lot of Love’s Travel Stop, 12921 Duval Road, said Alan Parker, Sheriff’s Office chief of investigations, during a news briefing. The man and woman then fled in a 2000 black Ford Mustang with a North Carolina license plate of RHL-4285, last seen heading north on U.S. 17/Main Street into Nassau County. The Sheriff’s Office has issued a nationwide BOLO for the man, woman, and car, Parker said. JSO was only able to describe the two as a Black man and a white or possibly Hispanic woman. McNew had just finished his shift. He was not wearing his JSO uniform when shot, Sheriff T.K. Waters told reporters during the briefing. “In any case, you don’t kill a person because they are trying to check on the welfare of a person that you are assaulting,” Waters said. The ongoing investigation shows that a man and woman who had driven up in the black Mustang were having a violent dispute at the gas pumps. The man got out of the passenger seat, walked around, and placed a handgun on the car hood. He got the woman out of the driver’s seat, threw her against the car, threw her down to the ground, and “continues his battery” of her, Parker said. McNew had been around the side of the building when he heard the commotion and went to check on it. He called out regarding if the woman was all right, Parker said. Parker said the man walked toward McNew, saying “hey, it’s family business stay out of it.” The man went back to the woman, got the gun, and pointed it in the direction of where McNew had been but didn’t fire it. The woman pulled the man back and they both got into the Mustang. Waters said during the entire OFFICER BRADFORD MCNEW incident the woman “looked like she was trying to hold him back.” The man pushed her back against the car and it looked like he put his hand around her neck, he said. Demaurea Grant, 29, was later arrested in North Carolina and charged with the murder of Brad McNew and is being held without bond until he is extradited to Florida. Sheriff T.K. Waters said many resources went into Grant’s arrest. Grant is from North Carolina and was arrested without incident in Gastonia around 7:30 a.m., Waters said. The woman with Grant was arrested on unrelated charges. 34 The Blues - November ‘24

The Blues - November ‘24 35