JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Family members of a teenager shot and killed by police in Mandarin Wednesday night want Dylan Thomas, 18, to be remembered as a good person who had a troubled past.
First Coast News spoke with Dylan’s older brother, Cameron Thomas, 19.
“He was troubled, but he was a good kid at heart,” Cameron said.
Cameron told First Coast News Dylan had mental health issues. The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office said officers thought he was carrying a revolver, but it turned out to be a BB gun.
Police said Dylan was the suspect in a robbery Wednesday at around 9 p.m. A woman was delivering food at The View Apartments off Losco Road when JSO says Dylan approached her with a weapon and demanded money. Police say the woman gave him the money, but before Dylan left, he returned it and said, “I’m not in this for the money.”
"He was not some cold-hearted thief trying to make drug money. He was probably going to take that money and buy Christmas presents for his girlfriend, and he realized what he was doing and it hit him,” said Cameron, who said Dylan was not in a good place.
The delivery driver found an off-duty officer at a nearby store, and gave them a description of the man who tried to rob her. The officer called the description into the radio system, and on-duty officers patrolled the area to look for their suspect.
Twenty minutes later, Officer Berry found him at the St. Augustine at the Lakes apartment complex. When the officer approached him, Dylan pointed what looked like a revolver at them and started running off. The officer shot at Dylan twice, but he kept running.
Dylan was later found at a nearby breezeway with a gunshot wound and a BB gun on the ground.
Cameron wants people to know his brother wasn't a bad kid, but a troubled suicidal teenager. “It sucks for us because people who knew Dylan Thomas for who he was. He was a good kid with a heart of gold. He was a great brother," Cameron said.
Cameron explained Dylan suffered from severe depression and was suicidal. “I feel like he's free,” he said. “I know that when people are sitting in their living rooms, they're going to see 'armed robber shot,' and they're going to think - 'They got him,' but they didn't. He got himself."
Cameron tells First Coast News his brother was on probation for dealing in stolen property and possession of a firearm as a minor and was probably running because he didn't want to go to jail.
The officer in this shooting is on administrative leave while an investigation is taking place.