ST. CLOUD, Fla. – The St. Cloud Police Department released the 911 calls made prior to a 21-year-old man being shot and killed by a police officer responding to the stabbing of a 9-year-old girl.
Police Chief Pete Gauntlett said officers responded to a 911 call around noon Wednesday to the “violent assault and stabbing” of a girl at a home on Georgia Avenue and 3rd Street, not far from O.P. Johnson Park.
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Police said the 9-year-old victim had injuries and stab wounds to her face, as well as stab wounds to her body. She was taken to Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children in Orlando where she is listed in stable condition.
The 911 calls released Thursday paint a frantic picture but do not provide answers as to how the man shot by an officer is connected to the girl’s injuries.
A man who called 911 told dispatchers the girl was found bleeding after being left alone.
″All I know is my girlfriend’s daughter needs an ambulance," he said. “She’s bleeding from the head. She was upstairs by herself.”
Several people can be heard yelling in the background and then the caller said they were taking the girl to the hospital.
“She’s going to the hospital right now,” he said. “Her uncle just came back with the car. He left for a minute but came back.”
Another 911 call was made by a neighbor, who told dispatchers the girl was being taken to the hospital by her family. The dispatcher tried to tell the caller the family should wait for an ambulance.
“The little girl was left alone for like 5 minutes and I think she got a hold of something,” the caller said. “I’m not sure but they took her to the hospital.”
Gauntlett said that around 12:50 p.m., officers made contact with a man witnesses said was “acting erratically, running on foot” in the area, including through backyards. The chief said the man was staying at the same home as the 9-year-old victim.
A 911 caller told dispatchers they were driving down Georgia Avenue when they saw “a guy covered in blood on his hands, his chest and head.”
“He’s like flopping his arms around,” she said. “He was really injured.”
When officers attempted to make contact with the man, one of the officers used deadly force, shooting and killing the individual, police said.
On Thursday, the department identified Jahsean Hodge, 21, as the man shot by a police officer.
On Wednesday, the police chief said they suspected Hodge of attacking the girl. The latest update from the department and the 911 calls do not provide any clarity on what happened leading up to the fatal shooting.
Department officials said they later determined only one officer, Officer Devin Dunn, fired his weapon, shooting and killing Hodge.
Dunn has been with the department since December, officials said. He was placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.
The case is being investigated by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Department of Children and Families and St. Cloud police.