Atlantic Beach officer beaten by suspect, seriously injured

Jacksonville, Fl — An officer was seriously injured in a morning attack outside the Panera Bread on Atlantic Boulevard in Atlantic Beach. The officer was initially called to the restaurant about a disturbance with a man in the parking lot.

“This is a terrible thing to have happen in Atlantic Beach, we are typically a quiet community, we have not had an officer-involved shooting in over 20 years”, said Interim Chief Victor Gualillo.

The responding officer, who has been with Atlantic Beach PD for 18 months but had 27 years of service with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, was beaten unconscious.

“Witnesses in the area confirm that the officer was laying on the ground and the suspect was actively punching him in the head while he laid on the ground”, said Gualillo.

The suspect walked away, and when a backup officer arrived, the suspect went back to stomp on the injured officers’ head. The backup officer shouted at the suspect to stop.

The suspect initially complied, and laid on the ground, but then got back up and said ‘you’re going to have to kill me’ and started approaching the backup officer. That officer backed up and tried to distance himself from the suspect.

“That suspect closed distance on our officer, actually tried to grab the officer’s gun, and the officer had no choice at that point but to fire one round to try and stop that person from attacking him”, said Gualillo.

The suspect was struck one time and fell to the ground. He was taken to a local hospital with serious injuries.

The injured officer, who was not identified, was hospitalized with serious injuries. While he is expected to physically recover, his recovery will likely take awhile before he is able to return to work.

Cox Media Group