JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A man was shot by Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office officers and taken into custody Thursday night after police said he held a woman and her 9-month-old baby against their will for several hours, then pointed a handgun at officers in a wooded area.
The officer-involved shooting happened at a home on Eberly Drive, off St. Johns Bluff Road, around 9:20 p.m. Thursday, according to a JSO news release.
District 2 patrol officers first responded around 11:50 a.m. after a woman reported she had been battered by her partner, according to JSO. The suspect left the home before officers arrived.
Officers were in the process of obtaining an arrest warrant when the suspect, later identified as Marcus Delay, 30, returned to the home later in the afternoon, JSO said.
Police said the Delay held the woman and baby inside the home for several hours. At some point, the woman and child escaped into a nearby wooded area and called 911, according to JSO.
Before officers arrived, the suspect came out of the home and fired a rifle into the air, JSO said.
Officers located the woman and baby in the wooded area, according to JSO. During that time, police said Delay made verbal threats to shoot the woman and also said he planned to “kill everyone” if officers showed up.
JSO said the suspect later found the woman and officers in the wooded area and pointed a handgun at them. Two officers fired, striking the Delay.
He was taken into custody and transported to a hospital for treatment of his injuries, JSO said.
The officers who fired were identified as J. Jones and G. Comayagua. No officers were injured, JSO said.
Sheriff T.K. Waters said officers’ actions likely prevented a worse outcome.
“I believe they saved a couple of lives tonight. It is a really dangerous situation, a very intense situation. He was actively walking through, around, looking for the victim and that child and had made statements that he was going to kill everybody if she called police and if the police showed up. This was a very dangerous situation,” Waters said.
JSO said Delay is from Oklahoma and he hasn’t been in Jacksonville very long.
Mike Powers, a neighbor, talked about what he saw and heard.
“He shot two shots in the air, ‘who’s in my yard?’ Pop pop, ‘I gotta protect myself its my yard,’ and the next thing you know, after he shot the two shots off, it went like fireworks," Powers said.
This is the 10th officer-involved shooting involving JSO so far this year, the agency said.
The State Attorney’s Office was on scene and is investigating. After that investigation is complete, JSO will conduct its own investigation, according to the agency.