JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A man who was barricaded inside a home in the Julington Creek area of Mandarin overnight surrendered to police just before 6 a.m. Tuesday, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said.
According to police, officers were called to the neighborhood around 4 p.m. Monday after reports of shots being fired.
They found a home that appeared to have been peppered with a shotgun blast. When an officer familiar with the suspected shooter tried to make contact with him at a home on Toucan Drive, he saw the man, later identified as Ryan James Taylor, 37, firing a shotgun in his backyard, police said.
Patrol officers tried to take Taylor into custody, but he barricaded himself in the home and SWAT was called out to negotiate with him.
By 10 p.m. a command center was set up.
Taylor refused to come out all night as tear gas was deployed at least two times, according to neighbors, and police used a megaphone to communicate with him. A News4Jax crew at the scene also felt the stinging effects of tear gas.
The standoff, which lasted more than 14 hours, also forced neighbors out of their homes. Pat and Mary Jane Fitzsimons said they had to spend the night in their car.
The Fitzsimons said they heard gunshots around 2 a.m., an unusual sound amid the tension for the normally quiet neighborhood.
“We’ve been here since 1991. It’s a very safe neighborhood. I was neighborhood watch coordinator for years and people wouldn’t come to the meetings and stuff like that so I said ‘Heck with it.’ I said, ‘We’re a safe neighborhood why bother’ and then this happens today. It’s unbelievable,” Pat said.
Taylor finally surrendered around 5:45 a.m. Tuesday, JSO said. He was taken into custody and will face two charges of aggravated assault and one charge of firing a weapon in a residential area.
Police said during the investigation, a second victim was identified. While no one was injured by the gunfire, property was damaged, police said.
JSO said a risk protection order will be issued, which will prevent Taylor from legally possessing a gun again.
Police asked that anyone with information on Taylor’s activities contact the Sheriff’s Office at 904-630-0500 or via email at JSOCrimeTips@JaxSheriff.org. You can also remain anonymous by calling CrimeStoppers at 1-866-845-TIPS.