Armed carjacking ultimately leads to fiery crash in Jacksonville

Jacksonville FL — An armed carjacking in the San Marco area ultimately led to a fiery crash in Mandarin late Monday night.

Jacksonville Police say a victim told them about an online sale he set up in the San Marco area at around 9PM. According to the incident report released Tuesday, one of the suspects contacted the victim on Instagram about having gold teeth made. The report says when the victim got to the meet-up spot, he was met by three suspects and the victim attempted to make impressions for the three. The report says all three were described by multiple people as young black men between 19 and 25 years old with two of them being described as thin, while the other had a heavier build. Police say at some point the suspects pulled out guns and eventually took the victim’s red Hyundai Sonata. JSO says the victim wasn’t injured in the incident and he ran away when he saw the suspects pulled out guns.

Then about an hour later, police say an officer saw the stolen car in Mandarin along with two of the suspects at a closed business on San Jose and Rickey Drive. JSO says when the officer went to go talk with the two of them, they took off in the stolen car and fled north on San Jose. The report doesn't say which suspects were seen with the stolen car in Mandarin. As the officer was catching up to the suspects, police say the suspects slammed into a tree as they were trying to turn right on to the West Beltway from San Jose. JSO says the car caught on fire after it hit the tree and the two suspects were taken to the hospital with serious injuries. At last check, JSO says the driver was in critical condition and the condition of the other suspect in the car was unknown. Its unclear at this time where the third suspect could be.

JSO says they are still investigating both the crash and the armed carjacking.