A grand jury ruled Monday that a Gainesville Police officer lawfully shot and killed the man who stabbed a UF employee in March.
A group of 19 jurors found a “no true bill,” which means no criminal actions were taken by GPD Lt. Mike Schibuola, said State Attorney’s Office spokesman Darry Lloyd.
“We believe that the grand jury’s findings were appropriate,” Lloyd said. “Any reasonable person would have seen that.”
A UF Alert sent out March 3 informed students, faculty and staff of the stabbing that occurred near Leigh Hall.
At about 7 a.m., Michael Cravey, a 28-year-old Gainesville resident, attacked UF staff member Clifford Preston unprovoked and stabbed him several times. When Cravey fled the scene in a Jeep, he sparked a police chase throughout the city.
Schibuola saw Cravey hiding a hatchet in front of Best Buy, according to a GPD press release.
Schibuola confronted him and Cravey ran with the hatchet in the air, “coming within feet of striking” Schibuola, according to the release. The officer fired shots that hit Cravey, who later died at UF Health Shands Hospital.
Police notified the mother, Maureen Cravey, who said her son saw psychological counselors for grief and anxiety. The night before the stabbing, she told police, her son got up several times because he couldn’t sleep. He then left the house at about 6:30 a.m.
At Monday’s hearing, Chief Tony Jones and other officers came out to support Schibuola, GPD spokesman Officer Ben Tobias wrote in an email.
Tobias said the department does not deal with hearings like this often. It is standard process to take law enforcement-related fatalities to a grand jury of residents.
“We are glad that the Grand Jury was able to analyze all of the evidence in the case and show that Lt. Schibuola acted within the law to protect himself and potentially others,” Tobias said. “We are glad that he can focus on his career again.”
[A version of this story ran on page 1 on 4/15/2014 under the headline "Jury: GPD officer who shot, killed man did no wrong"]
