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There were 772 cases of police shootings between 2009 and 2014. Use the filters below to find cases that match a certain set of criteria.

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July 3, 2012 — Melbourne

Officer Brian Cavanaugh was participating in a SWAT team's "buy and bust" drug raid the evening of July 3, 2012.

An undercover agent had purchased hundreds of Oxycondone pills at an apartment on Fountainhead Circle. Then police moved in for the arrests.

One group of officers was to break a window in the rear bedroom of the apartment as a distraction for the team going in the front. Read more

Officer Cavanaugh said that he saw a handgun on the nightstand and rifles nearby. One of the men in the apartment, Peter Paige, started to come into the bedroom.

He ignored commands to get on the ground, police said. Cavanaugh thought Paige was going for the guns and fired his sub-machine gun, wounding Paige.

Other handguns and another rifle were found but all the guns turned out to be pellet guns except for one unloaded black powder pistol.

Paige was sentenced to 2 1/2 years for the sale of a controlled substance and oxycodone.

This was the 72nd police shooting in Florida in 2012.

The same day, three officers shot one person in Orlando .

Two days later, one officer shot one person in St. Petersburg .

4 ways this case compares to others

  1. Officer Cavanaugh was involved in one other shooting from 2009 to 2014. Eighty-five officers were involved in more than one shooting during that time period.
  2. A SWAT or tactical team was involved in the incident. Tactical teams are involved in 7 percent of police shootings.
  3. Paige was shot during an undercover sting. That was true in less than four percent of cases.
  4. Paige was armed with a bb/pellet gun. Only 36 other people were armed the same way.

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