JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A person was taken into custody Saturday after shots were fired into an occupied home and that investigation led police and a SWAT team to a hotel on the city’s Westside, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.
JSO Lt. Beau Bottin said that shortly after 7 a.m. Saturday, officers responded to shots fired on Rayford Street, just south of Interstate 10, in Murray Hill. Police said they learned that shots had been fired into an occupied residence. Fortunately, Bottin said, no one was hit.
Bottin said that the shots were fired from outside the home and that investigators learned the suspect was possibly known to the residents.
The woman whose house was shot at, Candice Bagget, told News4JAX that she and the person believed to be the suspect were friends before all of this happened.
“Right here, which is the bullet right here that police need to grab, and this is where it went through the window and hit the TV where my friend was sitting right across,” Bagget said. “I saw her with my own eyes. And do you know how heartbreaking that is to see your own friend drive off, like, what point are you trying to make? Are you trying to scare us because you could’ve killed anybody. This is not no scare. This is terrifying. This is like PTSD. I don’t want to be at my home. I don’t want to be here no more.”
The investigation led police to 103rd Street, near Interstate 295, in the Cedar Hills area, where they tried to make contact with someone believed to be involved, Bottin said.
“We got indications of the presence of somebody inside a hotel room, however, they did not come out or communicate with us for several hours,” Bottin said.
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After a couple of hours, contact was made, but the person still refused to exit the room, according to Bottin.
Police continued to communicate with the person as search warrants were sought and the SWAT team responded, Bottin said.
Shortly after, Bottin said, the person came out of the hotel room peacefully and was taken into custody just afternoon noon. People at the hotel said they’re glad that person is OK.
According to Bottin, that person is believed to be the suspect in the shots fired incident, “but that’s under investigation.”
Bagget said she’s heartbroken someone she considered a friend would put her life and the lives of others in danger.
“So my friend called me wanting to vent,” she said. “A couple hours later, she became belligerent. I asked her, around say about 6 something, that she had to leave my home. She got upset about it. I would say 30 minutes later, we hear four gunshots.”
Police said they believe there’s no further threat to the public.
The Sheriff’s Office continues to investigate.
At least one person was injured in a crash that occurred Saturday near the hotel, but police said the crash was not related.