JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – One man is hospitalized and another is in custody after an undercover robbery investigation resulted in a chase and officer-involved shooting Saturday night in Northwest Jacksonville.
UNCUT VIDEO: JSO update on police-involved shooting
The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office said it was conducting an undercover investigation in response to several armed robberies of individuals in the area Friday and Saturday when officers noticed two men who matched descriptions of their suspects in the parking lot of the Foot Locker on Lem Turner Road near Soutel Drive.
A woman who doesn't want to be identified said she and her fiance' were robbed by two men they met at the Foot Locker. She claims one of the men discussed buying an apple watch from her fiance'.
She said the man reached down to his pocket, pulled out a gun, pointed it at her fiance’, stole the watch and fired roughly six gunshots. Fortunately, they weren’t hurt.
The woman said she's grateful the two men were caught.
“It was thrilling, I got my justice, I don’t even care about the watch, I was just happy they got them.”
Police ordered both suspects to the ground. One man complied and was taken into custody. A handgun was found in his possession. JSO Chief of Investigations T.K. Waters said the second man ran with officers in pursuit yelling for him to stop. Shots were fired and the man fell to the ground. Waters said they don't know how many times he was hit, but officers did find a gun on the wounded suspect.
Waters identified the police officer who opened fire on the suspect as K.L. Semones and said he fired 8 rounds with several hitting the suspect. Waters said Semones has been on the force three years without any incidents.
The gunman, who police have not identified, was taken to UF Health Jacksonville, where he remains in stable condition.
The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office said no officers were injured.
Waters said the officers were conducting an undercover investigation into eight individual robberies in which a man using the name Mike Brown 23 lured victims via the selling website LetGo and others.
Waters said a .38-caliber and 380 semi-automatic handguns were seized from the suspects. He reminds everyone to make social media sales at police substations or at police headquarters to ensure safe transactions.
Ken Jefferson, News4Jax crime and safety expert, said officers are trained to handle these situations, especially undercover investigations.
"When you have an officer-involved shooting, that means the situation has met the threshold of using deadly force, justifiably using deadly force," Jefferson said. "Officers always expect the unexpected, particularly in an undercover situation."