JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A suspected robber was shot and killed amid a struggle Tuesday night with police, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.
T.K. Waters, chief of investigations with the Sheriff’s Office, said officers responded at 6:44 p.m. to a robbery in progress at a business on Normandy Boulevard. He said officers arrived three minutes after being dispatched and found the victim in a parking lot, pointing in the direction of where the robber took off. Waters said a suspect was spotted and officers began following him.
Waters said the suspect fled into an apartment complex on Lane Avenue, which police investigated for approximately 45 minutes. He said a witness called, saying they believed the man went into an apartment and that officers set up and began calling for the suspect to come out.
“Probably about 10 times they made calls asking him to come out,” Waters said. “Eventually he did come out with his hands in the air. As they began to talk to him and approached him and asked him to come toward them, he continued to pace back and forth.”
Waters said the man ran off again, and officers gave chase. The man at some point came to a fence, Waters said, and an officer tried to cut him off in a vehicle as he attempted to jump the fence. He said the man fell onto the vehicle, but then jumped over the fence.
“Officers followed him behind the fence, where a struggle ensued. During the struggle, the suspect fired one shot. Officers returned fire, striking him and killing him at the scene,” Waters said.
No officers were injured, Waters said. Police were working to identify the man shot.
Two officers that were involved were placed on administrative leave. The state attorney’s office will conduct an independent investigation.