The Pensacola Police Historic Society

Officer Bruce Camacho – July 10, 1991

An excerpt from the book, “Some Gave All,” available on Amazon

By Mike Simmons

“You Shot Me!”

When Bruce Camacho joined the Pensacola Police Department in 1986, he went straight to work. Within a couple of years, he was chosen to join the Tactical Unit.

Members of the Tac Squad wore plain clothes, drove unmarked cars, and focused on violent crime, spending many hours conducting surveillance. The best thing about his new assignment, though, was that Bruce had more freedom to stop the guys who were doing the really bad stuff. He loved it.

When Jacob Floyd graduated from Washington High School in Pensacola, he was already looking forward to his new life. One month later, he found himself in basic training in the United States Army. But he wasn’t happy. He didn’t like authority, and his finances were a mess. He received a dishonorable discharge in May of 1991 after firing a pistol in his barracks.

Jacob went home to Pensacola, but the problems continued. He had no job and no money. Soon, he began holding up people in parking lots and robbing retail stores. In an interview the author had with Bruce on Thursday, April 29, 2021, Bruce recalled that he had determined to himself that he would spend whatever time needed to catch the guy.

When, on the morning of July 8, 1991, Jacob stuck a gun in the face of the young lady working at Church’s Fried Chicken on the corner of 9^th Avenue and Blount Street, she froze – afraid for her life. When she didn’t move fast enough for Jacob, he slapped her. She gave him all the money.

The next evening, Jacob held up the Whataburger at 9^th and Airport. He fled in a 1980 blue Toyota. Within minutes, the area was swarming with officers in search of the dangerous bad guy. Ten minutes later, veteran Deputy Wayne Ladieu spotted the Toyota and stopped it at Burgess Road and Sanders Street. But when Jacob exited the car, he began firing. Wayne shot back, striking Jacob and slightly wounding him. The search intensified, but did not produce Jacob.

The next morning, Linda George was leaving her house for work at 5:30 AM as usual. As she stepped out the front door of her apartment at 2133 Schwab Ct. and walked to her car, he approached her. Jacob told her to give him her car. Her car? If it hadn’t been such a shock, it would have been funny. It was such a piece of junk that it was all she could do just to keep it running. It was on its last leg. Her stubbornness came out. How dare he demand MY car! she thought to herself. “No, you cannot have my car!” she replied to Jacob. He shot her through the brain. She was dead before she hit the driveway.

Jacob took the car and headed north. But Linda had the last laugh. He drove for an entire two minutes before the car broke down. In the middle of the intersection of Creighton Road and Schwab Drive, he left the car. He made his way on foot to his mother’s house, less than a mile away.

Wednesday, July 10, 1991, 7:45 PM

“Pensacola 9-1-1” said the dispatcher on the other end of the line. “What is your emergency?”

“Yes, I want to report that guy that y’all are looking for,” said the anonymous called to the 911 dispatcher. “You know, the guy that’s on that flyer…the guy that killed that lady? Well, he’s walkin’ on Sixth Avenue from Baars Street.” The anonymous caller hung up.

When Bruce heard the call on the radio, he thought to himself “This might be it. This could be the guy that we’ve been looking for.” The emotions that ran through him ranged from excitement to anxiety to anger to caution. In the end, though, it was a job that needed to be done.

“Can I talk to you for a minute?” asked Bruce when he approached the guy the dispatcher described.

“Sure,” the man said lightly and began walking toward Bruce. When he came within six feet, Bruce asked for ID. As soon as he saw the name, Jacob lunged at him, knocked him down and jumped on top of him. When Bruce pushed him back, in one motion, the man produced his handgun and pulled the trigger. The explosion of the gun fired a round an inch away from Bruce’s head, near his left ear. It missed. Floyd immediately pulled the trigger a second time, but the slide wouldn’t move.

“It was my training,” Bruce later said. “I don’t know why, but I grabbed the action of the gun just like I was trained to do, making it impossible to fire. That saved my life.” Bruce reached to his holster and pulled his Hechler and Koch 9mm automatic pistol and pointed it at Floyd. But Floyd grabbed his gun, creating a sort of Mexican standoff. Bruce snatched his gun back and Floyd lost his grip. Bruce fired into Floyd’s chest.

“You shot me!” Floyd said as he fell back. Bruce jumped up, suddenly realizing that a crowd had gathered. Officer Doug White kept saying something to him. Although he could see Doug’s mouth moving, Bruce couldn’t hear him. He couldn’t hear anything. It was then that he realized that the gunshot near his ear caused temporary deafness. He looked around and saw his lieutenant, Norman Chapman, driving up. Chapman took Bruce into his car and whisked him away for the debriefing.

Jacob Floyd died on the way to the hospital. He was identified as the suspect in the Church’s Fried Chicken robbery, the Whataburger robbery, and the murder of Linda George. He was probably responsible for more, but those were the official cases.

January 26, 1992 9:15 PM

The Pensacola Police Annual Awards Banquet – Finally, the finale. The Gold Medal of Valor. There had only been two presented in the history of the department. Tonight – the third. It would be presented to…Officer Bruce Camacho, a true hero.