Police Brutality / Individual record
Levonia Riggins
The Washington Post's Fatal Force database records Levonia Riggins in a fatal on-duty police shooting on 2016-08-30 in Tampa, FL. Individual circumstances and legal outcome require case-specific review.
- Record ID
- PB-504
- Incident date
- August 30, 2016
- Outcome
- Fatal
- Location
- Tampa, FL
- Agency
- Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office
- Category
- Fatal on-duty police shooting
- Age (reported)
- 22
What happened
Levonia Riggins, 22, was unarmed when Hillsborough County SWAT Deputy Caleb Johnson shot and killed him during a narcotics search at a Tampa-area home on August 30, 2016. Other occupants came out of the house after officers arrived. Deputies said Riggins remained in a bedroom and refused orders to emerge, and Johnson reported perceiving an immediate threat when confronting him. Johnson fired once, and Riggins died at a hospital. Officials acknowledged he had no weapon at the time. Investigators placed the deputy on leave pending review. The absence of a firearm and unclear specific threat are central to assessing the fatal gunfire during a search-warrant operation.
Investigation & findings
Individual legal and investigative outcome not yet reviewed.
Washington Post Fatal Force v2; 2015–2024
Source record details
- Source incident ID
- 1827
- Race code in source
- B
- Race source method
- not_available
- Gender (source)
- male
- Armed status (source)
- unarmed
- Flee status (source)
- not
- Agency IDs (source)
- 747
Sources & records
- Primary source
- Additional source
- Methodology and national police killings trackingMapping Police Violence · Dataset/methodology
- Fatal Force v2 — fatal on-duty police shootings, 2015–2024The Washington Post · Dataset