JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Dozens of people who came into contact with a man during an armed rampage are thankful he's now behind bars after police said he terrorized several people with a gun.
Peter Lee Francis, 32, is now facing a slew of charges after an incident Tuesday afternoon that ended with a carjacking and Francis' arrest, police said.
A witness, who asked to be identified only as Garrett, told News4Jax Francis actually started firing rounds at a car on Southside Boulevard in the middle of the day, then walked across the street into the Aqua Deerwood apartment complex, where things escalated.
According to Garrett, the incident began at Southside Boulevard near Baymeadows Road. Garrett said he was sitting in traffic when he saw Francis walk toward him with a gun.
"He didn't seem to have a certain target, so you couldn't really tell what he was doing. But he was heading toward me with a gun, you know what I'm saying?" Garrett said. "He started walking back toward our vehicle, there was a jeep behind us. The dude come walking down the road and started shooting at the vehicle (behind us)."
Garrett said thankfully the driver of the jeep wasn't injured. But moments later, Garrett said he saw Francis walking into the Aqua Deerwood apartment complex across the street. According to a police report, Francis started shooting at several apartment windows and pointed his gun at at least one resident.
"That's definitely scary, especially with a 4-year-old (child) myself," said David Roy, who lives in the complex. "It makes me weary that there's people out there who are going to do that and are willing to do that in a residential area."
For others who live there, the most disturbing part came when, according to police, Francis tried to carjack a woman as she sat in her car with her 8-month-old baby.
According to the police report, the woman was already in her car when Francis sneaked up on her, pointed the gun at her head and said it was a holdup. She asked if she could get her baby out of the backseat. He allowed her to do that, and then, the report said, he started to drive away. But that's when he was arrested.
Officers told News4Jax that at the time of his arrest, Francis was found with marijuana and a glass pipe in his pants. For now, police are offering no motive in the case. The people who live in the area said they're just relieved he was caught.
"I'm very thankful that he's arrested, and he's not still here walking around, especially with my daughter being home," Roy said. "If she had been outside while he was outside, who knows what could have happened?"
Francis is charged with carjacking, shooting or throwing deadly missiles into a dwelling, aggravated assault, criminal mischief, discharging a firearm in public, resisting an officer without violence, marijuana possession and drug paraphernalia possession.
