ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – In the middle of dealing with storm response for Ian, one St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office deputy found himself in a life-threatening situation for a completely different reason.
Early Thursday morning a road rage incident led to a deputy being shot at, St. Johns County Sheriff Rob Hardwick told News4JAX.
Hardwick said around 12:30 a.m., the deputy spotted the vehicle that had been involved in the road rage incident and got behind it to initiate a traffic stop, but someone inside the vehicle fired a shotgun at him.
Hardwick said the shot penetrated the deputy’s windshield.
“By the grace of God our deputy is alive,” he said.
Hardwick said a pursuit ensued and ended with the same deputy who had been fired at performing a PIT maneuver to stop the vehicle.
Two people were taken into custody, including the shooter, Hardwick said. The deputy is OK and was just shaken up, Hardwick said.
“Those are those critical incidents that actually go on – stupidity that actually takes our first responders away from what we’re trying to do (which) is protect our citizens and make sure our communities are safe (during the storm),” Hardwick said.
