FP MAN SHOT BY DRUG AGENT DIES

FORT PIERCE - A Fort Pierce man shot by a federal agent died Tuesday
afternoon.

Keith Daughtry, 19, of the 300 block of South 14th Street, was shot in the
300 block of North 12th Street on Sunday night during a fight with an
undercover Drug Enforcement Agency agent.

According to DEA officials, the agents were attempting to buy crack cocaine
from a group of men standing along the street.

One of the agents was handed what was supposed to be crack and told one of
the men that the crack "looked like wax," Special Agent Brent Eaton said.
The group of men started to punch the agents through the open car windows,
Eaton said.

One agent was pulled through the open car window, Eaton said. The other got
out of the car and identified himself as an officer.

As backup units arrived, Eaton said, the men scattered. One agent pursued
Daughtry behind a house on North 12th Street, where the two men fought.

Eaton said Daughtry was trying to get the agent's gun when the agent fired
twice.

Witnesses at the scene said they saw Daughtry, who was unarmed, run from
the agent. Some witnesses said they heard Daughtry call out "don't shoot
me, don't shoot me," before he was shot. Daughtry's mother said Tuesday she
thought the shooting should not have happened. "They're lying to cover this
up," Lee Ann Daughtry said. "They know they did wrong when they shot my
boy." Though DEA officials reported the bullet missed vital organs, his
mother said Daughtry needed surgery and died after his kidney failed.

Daughtry served almost 20 months in the Martin Correctional Institute
before 1998. According to the Florida Department of Corrections, he was
charged with several counts of auto theft and burglary. The agent who shot
Daughtry is on temporary leave until the shooting is investigated by the
DEA, Eaton said.