April 24, 10:56 p.m.
ORANGE COUNTY JAIL, FLORIDA — On March 22, 2020, at 5:46 pm, Eric Jefferson Stanley Jr. was in the triage area of the Orange County Corrections Booking and Release Center (“BRC”) in Orlando, Florida. He was present with another inmate for a routine check prior to being booked into jail.
While seated on a waiting bench, Stanley extracted his left hand from the flex cuffs in which he was secured, brandishing a handgun and pointing it at Corrections Officer James Magwood, who he ordered to the ground. Magwood complied. Stanley then pointed the gun at his arresting officer, Deputy Jeffery James-Potts, ordering James-Potts to “not do anything.”
Stanley approached Magwood and pointed the gun at his head. He then walked to James-Potts and physically grabbed hold of him, pointing the handgun at James-Potts’ head while ordering deputies outside of the locked triage area to back away, threatening to kill his new hostage.
Stanley forced James-Potts to walk around the nurse’s desk, where Stanley was surprised to find the triage nurse — who had been hiding beneath his desk. Stanley ordered the triage nurse, Hector Jamie, to move from behind the desk — an area Stanley took over, bringing his hostage along for the ride. Stanley began searching James-Potts for other weapons, placing his handgun in his lap to free his hands.
Sensing that as his opportunity, James-Potts tried to take control of the handgun. He did not succeed. Stanley punched James-Potts in the face with his fists and pistol whipped him multiple times. As they both fell to the ground, shots were fired into the triage area — through bullet-resistant glass. One round that penetrated struck Stanley in his shoulder. Stanley hid behind the nurse’s desk while sitting on top of Deputy James-Potts, refusing to allow James-Potts to leave. During this time, triage nurse Jamie was hiding behind a body scanner used to scan incoming inmates.
Jamie yelled for staff within the control room to open the door to the sally port, and the control room complied, but when Jamie began to run toward the door, Stanley rose to his knees and, according to an official report, fired a round toward the door, preventing Jamie from exiting. It is unclear in the video when, and whether, that actually happened. When Stanley returned to his position of cover behind the desk, Jamie ran out the open door.
