Officers cleared in fatal shooting outside Gainesville hospital

“... while the death of Adam English was unquestionably tragic, the evidence would not support a finding of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt,” Darragh wrote. “Therefore, in good faith as a prosecutor whose obligation it is to seek justice, I have concluded that my office will take no further action on this matter.”

According to the DA’s findings, English entered an employee’s car in the hospital’s parking deck and stole a handgun about 2 p.m. that day. A while later, hospital security responded to a “shots fired” call outside a doctor’s office and saw English pacing back and forth with a chrome revolver in his hand.

Witnesses inside the surgical center told authorities they heard a gunshot outside the office and saw English twirling a gun, pointing it at himself and waving the revolver toward traffic.

“At one point, (English) flipped the cylinder open, and all the bullets fell out,” one witness said. “He closed the gun, picked up the bullets and put them in his pocket, but eventually loaded the bullets back in the gun.”

An armed hospital guard approached the Oakwood man to make sure he didn’t enter the doctor’s office, but decided not to confront him until police arrived at the scene, according to the DA’s office.

Gainesville police responded to the area about 4:30 p.m., according to witness interviews. The security guard heard officers repeatedly tell the man to put his hands in the air and lie on the ground, but said English did not comply with their commands. He also told investigators he saw English “square up” toward the officers and then reach toward one of the bags he was carrying before shots rang out.

“He heard one of the officers say, ‘Don’t do it’ prior to the shots,” Darragh wrote.

The Gainesville officers who fired the fatal shots were previously identified as Jonathan Fowler and Jose Hernandez. The investigation revealed Hernandez’s body camera wasn’t activated until after the shooting while Fowler’s body camera footage showed he was approximately 7 yards from English when he fired his shotgun, according to the report.

In an interview with the GBI, Fowler told investigators he was “creeped out” by the look on English’s face, authorities said. He said English refused to comply with the officers’ commands and that he wasn’t able to see his right hand and feared he may be reaching for his gun.

“Fowler decided to fire to prevent (English) from reaching his handgun, which he believed may have been in his waistband,” Darragh wrote. Hernandez told investigators he fired because he believed English posed a threat to him and the other officers at the scene.

English’s aunt, Stormy Sexton, told Channel 2 Action News that her nephew was battling drug addiction and had been dropped off at a rehab facility around lunchtime that day.

“Just not knowing what happened — just not understanding the puzzle pieces ... it’s so out of his character,” she told the news station in 2019. “He’s never been violent in any type of way ever. We just don’t get it.”

Blood drawn during English’s autopsy showed he was under the influence of methamphetamine at the time, authorities said.

While Darragh declined to charge the officers involved, he said he offered no opinion as to whether there was any civil liability against them or the Gainesville Police Department.

“That determination would have to be made in another forum,” he wrote. “I deal with only whether any criminal charges are appropriate in this case.”

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