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Deadly police shooting bodycam footage released from Jacksonville hotel incident

WARNING: Some may find the video and audio in this story disturbing. The moments surrounding the death of 32-year-old Michael Hughes were captured on a JSO bodycam.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office released video Friday evening of a deadly officer-involved shooting last month.

Michael Hughes, a 32-year-old father of two, was shot and killed at a hotel on Youngerman Circle on March 30. 

Warning: Some may find the video and audio disturbing. Scroll down to watch the full video.

"We're going to detain you until we can properly (inaudible) you," a JSO officer can be heard telling Hughes. 

"I'm straight. Back up. Don't touch me," Hughes tells the officer as he approaches to arrest him.

In the moments after, you can see a struggle with Hughes and the officers in the room. In the middle of the struggle, one of the officers' cameras fell off.

Story continues below.

Despite not being able to see what was visually happening, the body camera was still rolling, recording the audio of everything else happening in the room.

"He's reaching for my Taser!" an officer can be heard shouting. Then, the sound of a Taser being deployed is heard before the sound of two gunshots being fired.

After the first two gun shots, an officer is heard yelling "Shoot him!" "Back up!" and again, "Shoot him! ... On the ground!" A few second pass, then three additional shots are heard.

Former JSO Officer Kim Varner watched the four minute video and told First Coast News he believes the shooting is justified.

"If you're bold enough to take this taser off my side, then I think you're taking it to use it on me.  Not once in the video does he say what his intentions are.  So, the officer has to assume that he's taking the taser to use it on him," Varner explained.

It's the moments between the first two shots fired and the second set of three gunshots that Hughes' family attorney, Marwan Porter, is calling for transparency on.

In a news conference Thursday, Porter held a news conference saying there is surveillance video from the hotel that could shed more light on what happened before Hughes died.

"When Mike (Hughes) exited the hotel room, he was already wounded. He was shot twice. He was disoriented. He was stumbling. He had no weapon," Porter said.

The hotel surveillance video has not yet been made public as the investigation is still ongoing.

The officer involved is on administrative leave, under JSO protocol. 

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