Jonathan Price was a 31-year-old African American male who was a personal fitness trainer in Wolfe City, Texas. He was also a former college football player for Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas, and a motivational speaker to many. On October 3, 2020, in a small convenience store located in an east Texas town, Wolfe City Police Officer Shaun Lucas, a white male opened fire on unarmed Price. During this Saturday night, Price was trying to de-escalate a domestic dispute, where he saw a man hit a woman inside the convenience store. Officer Lucas had received a disturbance call, that there was a possible fight at that convenience store. The dispute had been resolved by the time the police arrived. Price, unaware that a call was even made about the fight he had just intervened, approached the police officer, Lucas, to greet him. Even asking how the officer’s day was like. Officer Lucas attempted to detain Price, who resisted in a non-threatening posture and began walking away. Lucas deployed his taser and struck Price. Price’s body convulsed from the taser and he attempted to take the taser away from Lucas. This was perceived as a threat. Then, Officer Lucas took out his gun and shot him 4 times on the upper torso. EMS was notified and Price was taken to Hunt Regional Hospital. Price later died in the hospital due to the gunshot wounds.
Officer, Lucas, was arrested by Texas Rangers and placed into Hunt County Jail. Lucas was also placed on leave during the investigation. Lucas is being held on a murder charge at Collin County jail on $1 million bail. Lucas had been with the Wolfe City Police Department for a little less than six months when the shooting took place, according to records from the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement. His prior law enforcement experience had been working as a jailer with the Hunt County Sheriff’s Office for about five months. Residents of Wolfe City claim the 22-year-old officer had been overly aggressive with his traffic enforcement and berated longtime Black locals. As of 2019, Wolfe City’s police department had five officers and a chief of police, all of whom were white men, according to Texas Commission on Law Enforcement data.
The incident might have been captured by a bodycam. In addition, according to Merritt, the gas station has video surveillance footage of what happened, but the owners have allegedly refused to share it with Merritt or the Price family. Yet, The Texas Rangers do have a copy of the footage. The attorney for Mr. Price’s family wants to see the video be released. Officer Lucas’s actions weren’t deemed as warranted since Mr. Price was approaching Officer Lucas in a non-threatening way, and only became aggressive around the time he was being tased by Lucas. The case is still not crystal clear as to what occurred during that night, and the officers aren’t clear either. The Texas Rangers, Hunt County’s District Attorney’s office, and the Wolfe City mayor did not want to have a proper interview with CNN. The Wolfe City Police Department did not respond to TIME’s request for comment. Family members lamented the fact that the police had not shared many details relating to Price’s death.
There were also protests after the death of Jonathan Price. Protestors were seen around dusk on Monday near the gas station in Wolfe City. They chanted and listened to speakers. Also lit vigils at nightfall. There were also counter protestors (predominantly white), some who even brought weapons to the protest. Some people also lit candles for Mr. Price even if they weren’t protestors who were present during that event. They later left without any major occurrences. Mr. Price’s funeral was scheduled for Saturday, October 10, 2020.