Firefighter fatally shot at Fla. gas station

[P_Instructor]

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. Emanuel Porter II was supposed to treat gunshot wounds, not die from them.

But Porter, a 21-year-old Jacksonville firefighter/paramedic, was fatally shot early Tuesday when a gun went off in the hand of a woman who picked it up from the seat of a car in the parking lot of an Arlington gas station, police said.

Fisthnise Saint Breux, 18, has been charged with manslaughter in the death of Porter, who was following a family path into the fire department. Saint Breux, who also was charged with evidence tampering, was being held without bail Tuesday at the Duval County jail.

Two other people in the car also were questioned by police.

The death sent tremors through the department, where Porter's father is a lieutenant at a Westside station.

Porter was at the department's Fire Station 1 on Liberty Street downtown.

"Some people it just doesn't click, it takes a little more effort," said his lieutenant, Kelly Dobson. "But with him, never had a problem."

The young Porter began at the station in May.

"We were just proud to have him," said Dobson, who had to pause rather than let his composure crack. "One thing I always told him here is that we enjoy coming to work here, we have a good crew, we have to live together. And he just got it. You tell him one time is all it took."

Porter was off-duty when police were called to the BP station parking lot on University Boulevard North near Fort Caroline Road at 12:45 a.m. He was found lying beside a car in the lot and pronounced dead by rescue personnel.

Porter, Saint Breux and two other acquaintances, Mariah Mungo, 16, and Michael Harrell, 21, had driven to the station for gas. They did not know it was closed, said Lt. Larry Schmitt of the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office homicide unit.

Schmitt said that when Porter got out of the car, he had a gun and took the magazine out. He then put the gun and the magazine on the front seat. Apparently unknown to Saint Breux, there was a round still in the chamber of the .40-caliber gun.

Schmitt said Porter saw Saint Breux pick up the gun while sitting in the back seat and told her to put it down. Saint Breux pointed the gun at Porter's head, said "I ain't gonna shoot you," then pulled the trigger, according to Schmitt and an arrest report.

She said the gun went off, but didn't remember pulling the trigger. She told officers she then threw the gun in nearby bushes after the shooting.

Porter was focused on lifesaving and the future, Dobson said. He said Porter was taking online classes on his way to getting a nursing degree and was planning to buy a house. One of the youngest firefighters in the department, Porter had his paramedic license and Dobson was urging him just the other day to go to the University of North Florida for nursing studies.

"He wanted to get his degree in nursing so he could do that on the side," Dobson said.

Porter also was a 2006 graduate of Paxon School for Advanced Studies. One of his teachers, Carlan Shreve, said Porter was excited about what he was doing.

"This was going to be the driving force in his life," Shreve said. "A good one has been taken from us way too soon."

Joshua Gartenbush, another young firefighter, was with Porter in recruit training and said the work ethic showed there, too.

"He was always trying to do better and do his best," he said.

Gartenbush is stationed at the Lenox Avenue firehouse with Porter's father, Emanuel Porter. Both the Porters went by the nickname Manny.

"He looked up to his dad and he wanted to be as good as his dad," Gartenbush said.

Porter represented a "true legacy" within the agency, according to a release from the department. An uncle, Lt. George Bartley, also is a member of the department.

Because firefighters live together during 24-hour shifts, they become like family, said department Chaplain Percy Golden, who was making the rounds of stations Tuesday.

"It's just tragic," he said. "You don't expect these things to happen but they do. We deal with it. We rescue people, but it's a little bit different when it's one of your own."

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Edited December 4, 2009 by P_Instructor

[VentMedic]

Sad. So very sad.

If you are going to carry, you must stay in control of your gun at all times or store it safely.

[fireflymedic]

Very sad tragedy because of an act of stupidity - one always knows better than to point a gun either loaded (or suspected unloaded) at someone and making a comment like that and directly pointing the gun at him makes me question the accuracy of the story - there are always two sides. An incredible shame and prayers for his family, friends, and coworkers.