JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday released body camera footage from an evening in October when police were asked to investigate an armed burglary. JSO said it led to an officer being shot and that the suspect later crashed and jumped off the Dames Point Bridge.
The Sheriff’s Office reported initially that police were called to a home on Old Middleburg Road on Oct. 2 at about 10:50 p.m. Police said when officers arrived, a man ambushed them, firing shots through a front door and hitting an officer in their back.
In the video, two gunshots are heard as an officer approaches the front door of a home, and the officer groans as though he’s been hit.
“Signal 34! Shots fired! Shots fired!” the officer yells.
More gunshots are heard as the officer breathes heavily.
“I’m hit, dude,” the officer says to another officer.
Additional gunshots follow.
“HQ, we’ve got a vehicle fleeing!” an officer says over the radio. “He’s headed back up north!”
Rescue crews are called to assist the wounded officer.
According to the Sheriff’s Office, the suspect appeared in a front yard and got into a vehicle belonging to a resident of the home. The injured officer was able to engage, but the suspect fled in the stolen vehicle.
Officers said the man crashed into a median on the Dames Point Bridge, got out of the car and jumped into the river, where he was seen swimming for a bit before going under.
Investigators said an autopsy determined the suspect had not been wounded by gunfire and his death was ruled an “accidental drowning.”
The JSO Dive Team said it located a firearm believed to have been used by the suspect at the bottom of the river.
The officer who was shot was treated for his injury at a hospital.