Thomas C. McMullen was arrested in connection with the 1993 murder of Tammy Jo Johnson. On Thursday he was killed by police after he ran on foot.
The Jacksonville man who was killed by police yesterday was also arrested eighteen years ago for the murder of an off-duty Jacksonville corrections officer.
In October 1993, Tammy Jo Johnson was killed during a robbery attempt involving five teenagers, including a 13-year-old who pulled the trigger.
The gunman is serving life in prison along with two co-defendants. The fourth was later released from prison and his whereabouts are unknown.
The fifth teenager involved, Thomas C. McMullen, was the 32-year-old man killed by 21-year police veteran T. E. Stafford Thursday after a short foot chase. Police were looking for him after they got reports of shots being fired inside an apartment complex.
Chief Tom Hackney with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said in a Friday news conference that McMullen’s girlfriend got a call from a neighbor that her apartment may have been burglarized.
At 11 a.m. on Thursday, police responded to a call that shots were fired at the Cleveland Arms apartments at 5020 Cleveland Road. Hackney said McMullen fired at the people person whom he suspected tried to burglarize his girlfriend’s apartment. His shots missed.
McMullen’s girlfriend went to move her Buick, but he got in and told her to drive. Witnesses provided police with a description of McMullen and the vehicle.
The Buick was spotted on West 45th street, and two officers stopped it near the intersection of Paris Avenue and Morehouse Road.
Police say a man matching the description from the apartment complex shooting ran from the passenger side. That’s when officers were able to glimpse his handgun in his waistband, Hackney said.
Officers chased him until he hid under a barber shop at 5748 Avenue B. They established a perimeter and called Officer Stafford.
Stafford is a K-9 officer and ordered his dog to find McMullen under the building. Chief Hackney said police told McMullen numerous times to come out and put his hands up, but he only cursed back at police. Not long after, Stafford saw McMullen reach down towards his waistband and that’s when he shot him.
McMullen was treated at the scene but died.
Police did not find a weapon on him but later recovered a handgun (pictured above) they said he tossed two blocks away during his foot chase.
McMullen’s girlfriend was detained and complied with officers. She has not been charged.
