JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A 26-year-old man was shot Saturday night as he was robbing a Westside cellphone store, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office incident report.
Police said Thomas Joyner entered the Metro PCS store on Blanding Boulevard near 103rd Street about 8 p.m. pulled a gun on the clerk. The employee Joyner money, then pulled his own gun, pushed the suspect's gun to the side and fired at him, the report said. The employee told police the two exchanged gunfire and the suspect fell, but got up and left the store.
Joyner showed up later Saturday night at a free-standing emergency room on 103rd Street, where he was taken to Orange Park Medical Center. As of Monday, he remains under guard while recovering from a gunshot wound.
A window and the front door of the store were shot out, an SUV in the parking lot was hit by the gunfire and a witness said bullets barely missed people eating in a restaurant next door.
In July 2013, Shelby Farah was killed during a robbery of a Metro PCS store on North Main Street. James Rhodes is scheduled to go on trial in August on charges including armed robbery and murder.
A lawsuit Farah's family filed again Metro PCS alleging unsafe working conditions is ongoing.