Crystal Gerhold, aunt of Asia Bennett, speaks at a news conference Friday, Sept. 4, 2026. Attorney Ben Crump is shown on the right. | News4Jax
Published on September 4, 2026 at 3:16 pm
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A woman shot to death by Jacksonville police was no threat when an officer shot her in the back, her attorney said during a news conference Friday.
Family attorney Ben Crump called the shooting of Asia Bennett, 22, a “completely unjustifiable” killing. He demanded that the officer who shot her be held accountable.
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Asked to respond to Crump’s comments, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that it has “shared as much information as is legally possible without jeopardizing the integrity of the investigation.” The department said it will not be commenting further, given pending litigation.
The State Attorney’s Office is conducting an independent investigation into whether officers did anything criminal during the shooting. When that is done, the Sheriff’s Office will do its own review to determine whether the officers’ actions complied with the agency’s policies and training.
Officers were called to Bennett’s home on Westdale Drive in Arlington just before 11 p.m. Aug. 11 after a man reported his ex-girlfriend inside had a knife.
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Police bodycam video, edited by the Sheriff’s Office, shows an officer speaking to Bennett’s boyfriend outside the home. As the officer walks closer to the home, Bennett comes out and says her boyfriend beat her.
The officer tells Bennett to drop what she is holding, and she does, but she holds onto a knife. The officer tells Bennett multiple times to drop the knife. She appears not to, then is shot.
Bennett is seen on the ground as officers again order her to drop the knife, then is shot again, the video shows
Crump said an embalmer’s report shows the second shot hit Bennett in her back as she crouched on her hands and knees after the first shot. That counters any claims that Bennett “lunged at the officer,” he said.
“She was on the ground, not posing any threat,” Crump said. “The law is clear: Law enforcement cannot use deadly force unless the person poses an imminent threat of death or serious physical injury to the officer.
“How was Asia a threat while she’s on the ground on her hands and knees? How was Asia a threat if she was shot from her side in her back? … Courts have determined that force must stop the moment the threat is neutralized.”
Bennett’s aunt, Crystal Gerhold, asked why the female officer who killed her niece never made any attempt to de-escalate the situation after Bennett reported she had been abused and was screaming for help.
“I can’t imagine why this officer chose to shoot her, why she never said one word of de-escalation when Asia clearly needed some help,” Gerhold said. “Asia did not come out and make a threat. Asia came out and said she had been beaten, and the answer to that was a shot.”
Gerhold also said: “I don’t care that she has a badge — she’s a killer. If I walked out and shot a woman in the back who clearly had her hands on the ground and was not a threat to me, my bottom would be sitting in that jail, and that’s where I’d deserve to be.”
Information from Bennett’s family and friends, as well as criminal records, shows that Bennett experienced domestic violence from her ex-boyfriend in the past, Crump said Friday. Those incidents left her with black eyes, busted lips and bruises on her body.
Crump then held up an apparent autopsy photograph of Bennett, showing a rod tracing the entry and exit wounds on her back from what he said was the police officer’s second shot.
Crump said the bullet hit her as she faced away from the officer. He then had one of his attorneys crouch on the floor as he demonstrated what Crump called “the kill shot.”
Crump now wants an unedited version of both police officers’ bodycam videos of the shooting scene, as well as the full medical examiner’s report on Bennett.
Thursday evening, dozens of people gathered for a sunset vigil at Memorial Park in Riverside to remember Bennett and bring attention to domestic violence.
Members of the Jacksonville Community Action Committee joined Bennett’s family, including her uncle, Anthony Gerhold, who said the park was one of her favorite places.
”She loved this park, loved this little area back here,” he said. “So it just reminds me of just how forever optimistic she was. … She never got a chance to do that and course-correct her life, get with the right people, make that happen. And I think that’s the biggest loss.”
Jacksonville Today reporters Simone Endress and Elizabeth Caldwell contributed to this report.
