JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. – In the aftermath of Wednesday night’s shootout that injured a Jacksonville Beach police officer, questions abound about the Jacksonville man arrested in the case.
Jovan Sisljagic, 27, was booked into the Duval County jail on two counts of attempted murder following his release from the hospital, where he was treated for three gunshot wounds. Police recovered a handgun at the scene.
At his first appearance Thursday afternoon, Sisljagic had bandages on his arm and foot. He was ordered to be held without bond and will be back in court for arraignment on Aug. 30.
A search of online court records found Sisljagic hasn’t had many brushes with the law. In fact, aside from traffic tickets, he’s only faced criminal charges twice, both times for non-violent incidents.
He avoided conviction after pleading no contest to a misdemeanor marijuana possession charge from a December 2010 incident. The story was the same with a February 2010 reckless driving charge.
But a former neighbor, who lives near a previous address listed for Sisljagic, said she was not surprised to learn he was suspected in the shooting. After all, she said, he was a "wild child" growing up.
“The only thing I know about him is how he talked and how wild he was,” said the neighbor, whose name News4Jax is withholding. “He was a school-aged kid when he lived in the neighborhood.”
The neighbor estimated she lived near the family for eight or nine years. She remembered Sisljagic as an unruly adolescent.
“He used to ride a motorcycle up and down the street really fast,” she said. “But he talked to his parents really bad. He used bad language talking to his dad out in the yard all the time.”
Despite her characterization of his behavior, the neighbor said it never resulted in any crimes and she never saw police called to the family’s home.
Court records show Sisljagic is scheduled to make his first appearance at 1 p.m. Thursday.