Tampa police sent a SWAT team to the Seminole Heights home that Jason Westcott, 29, shared with his boyfriend Izzy Reyes on the night of 27 May 2014 to execute a search warrant for marijuana.[1][2] Officers entered through an unlocked door after knocks went unanswered and pulled Reyes from the couch, shouting that they had a search warrant.[2] Westcott, who was in his bedroom, picked up his pistol and moved toward the hallway; two SWAT members fired five rounds, killing him.[1][2] He died later at a hospital after treatment by a SWAT medic.[2]
The search found 0.2 grams of marijuana, a fraction of the pound the police informant had claimed to see.[1][2] The informant, 50-year-old felon and addict Ronnie “Bodie” Coogle, had made buys totalling under $200 over four months and later told the Tampa Bay Times he invented the claims that Westcott carried a gun during deals and had a heroin connection.[1] A detective’s report that Westcott carried his pistol during every drug deal turned it into an armed-trafficking flag that triggered the use of the SWAT team.[1] Westcott had armed himself after a guest threatened to rob and kill him months earlier, and a responding officer had told him to grab his gun and shoot to kill if anyone broke in, his family said.[2]
Police first said undercover officers made the buys, then admitted the case rested on Coogle; Chief Jane Castor vouched for his credibility in July and reversed herself after he went to the FBI.[1] An internal investigation cleared the officers, and Castor said the team acted within its training; the department maintains Westcott aimed a loaded firearm at officers.[2] The Times investigations found the raid was built on the informant rather than neighbour complaints.[3][4]
