Dozen gunshots heard in bodycam video from Sarasota police shooting

Although the Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation into Monday morning’s police shooting of a bank robbery suspect remains underway, the Sarasota Police Department has released footage from body cameras worn by five officers.

None of the videos clearly show the shooting, but what is now known is that while officers were in pursuit of William Michael Pickett, in attempting to elude officers, he backed his car into a pond near the intersection of University Parkway and U.S. 41 before any shots were fired. 

In each of the videos, an officer can be heard repeatedly ordering Pickett out of the vehicle. Officer No. 1 said, “He’s reaching into his jacket,” before reporting, “He’s got gun to his head.”

The officer ordering him from the vehicle then shouted: “Come on, man. Don’t do it. Get out of the car. There’s a better …” Before he could finish his sentence, shots rang out. The sequence of the shooting is unclear because of dense foliage between the body camera-wearing officers and the suspect, though more than a dozen shots can be heard in the videos.

All five officers involved in the shooting are on administrative leave, per SPD policy.

The incident occurred at around 7:50 a.m. Feb. 26 on University Parkway just east of U.S. 41 as SPD officers attempted to arrest Pickett on a Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office warrant. Pickett was identified as the suspect of a Saturday robbery of a Fifth Third Bank branch at 6265 Tuttle Ave. near University Parkway in Sarasota County.