Troubleshooters: Wyandotte officer involved shooting suspect released from prison early multiple times

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - The suspect accused of pointing an AR-style pistol while running from police during the latest officer-involved shooting had been released early from prison numerous times, records show.

Troubleshooters found that over a 20-year span, Jaron Bobbitt served 11 of the 17 years he’d been sentenced to for numerous felonies. His first time sentenced to prison was in 2004.

LMPD released the body camera footage from the shooting on Monday.

“He presents himself as a very immediate threat to the public,” LMPD Assistant Chief, Paul Humphreys said during the press conference. “I think we are very fortunate as a community that this person is off the streets, and hopefully he stays off the streets for an extremely long time, at least until he’s aged out of his inability to make good decisions.”

Thursday, in an exclusive Troubleshooter investigation, we exposed Bobbitt’s long criminal history, which included 21 separate criminal cases between District and Circuit courts. The investigation focused on what happens when convicted felons are repeatedly caught with guns.

Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg and LMPD Chief, Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel told WAVE News about their concerns violent felons are repeatedly allowed back out on the streets through the county’s judicial system.

It’s something the Mayor and Chief said they are speaking to judges about.

According to statistics from the Administrative Office of the Courts and records from LMDC, at least 50% of those convicted of the gun crime are being allowed back out on the streets through probation or home incarceration, or HIP. Bobbitt was one of them.

In January, Circuit Court Judge Tish Morris granted Bobbitt HIP in lieu of a $10,000 bond.

That’s not the only time Bobbitt had avoided jail time.

WAVE Troubleshooters confirmed that in 2011, Bobbitt was granted shock probation by the court on a gun conviction. His probation was then revoked in May, 2014. Six months later, and despite the violation, Bobbitt was granted another early release through the state’s Mandatory Re-entry program, or MRS. According to the Kentucky Department of Corrections, Bobbitt violated the terms of the MRS in five months of being released.

In 2019, he was sentenced to two years for escape. He would be arrested at least two more times after that on charges of receiving stolen property, trafficking, possession of a controlled substance, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon yet again.

“We’ve gone through a period where we discussed the overcrowding of jails and people who are staying in jails who might not necessarily need to be there for the periods that they’re there,” Humphreys said. “But I think we can all agree that people who have violent histories, people who pose a threat to the public need to stay in jail for an extended period of time.”

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