JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Three men are in custody after a string of car burglaries led to a shooting early Sunday morning, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.
A resident’s surveillance camera in the Price Park Drive subdivision captured nearly 10 gunshots and a car speeding away from the neighborhood early Sunday morning.
Sergeant Josh Catir with JSO said it all started a little before 6 a.m. Sunday. Several neighbors told News4JAX their cars were broken into that were parked on both Price Park Drive and Sundrop Way in the Sunbeam neighborhood.
Investigators said as three men were breaking into cars on those streets, one of the victims saw them burglarizing his car. Catir said the thieves started shooting at the man when they noticed he got into his car shortly after and started following them. The man then fired back, JSO said.
One of those bullets in all of that gunfire struck a house on Price Park Drive.
The woman who lives there and did not want to be identified told News4JAX she was inside with her grandson at the time.
“I heard this indescribable noise,” she said. “It was hard to discern that it was gunfire, but it was so rapid. It was so awful because my grandson is here.”
Neither was hurt as the bullet did not go through the house.
Police said the man followed the burglars more than five miles to Powers Avenue, where they continued firing at each other.
Catir said as the man fired back at the burglars there, he shot the driver of the getaway car. Detectives said the two other men jumped out of the car and ran across the street into the Pointe Sienna apartment complex.
Investigators said officers and K9s managed to catch up with the two men and take them into custody.
According to Catir, the suspected burglar who was shot was hit once in the upper body and is expected to recover.
Catir said there may be more victims of the car break-ins. Neighbors told News4JAX they saw the same car in the neighborhood last week.
“We have been able to identify additional cars that have been burglarized,” Catir said. “That being said, if you live in this area and you do go out to your car and you find that your door is open or your car appears to have been ransacked, we are asking you not to touch it. Call JSO’s non-emergency number at 904-630-0500.”
In the meantime, those who live in that neighborhood are thankful the incident did not end differently.
“I am just so grateful that nothing happened to my grandson,” the woman whose house was hit by gunfire said. “I’m so grateful that nothing happened to our neighbors.”
Currently, the man who followed the suspects and shot one of them is not facing any charges and is cooperating with investigators.