ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — The St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office says a man is dead after what it calls a deputy-involved shooting reported on US-1 Tuesday afternoon.
The sheriff’s office reported the shooting in a post online, sharing that a shooting had happened at around 4:00 PM just south of the US-1 and International Golf Parkway Intersection.
The sheriff’s office told Action News Jax that deputies were responding to a possible shooting after a 911 operator heard possible gunshots over a phone call, then they saw a man speeding down US-1 South. The sheriff’s office said investigators had later learned that the man had been trying to get away after shooting at a nearby business.
Deputies said they chased the man down US-1 South and used the PIT maneuver to cause his car to crash on the side of the road. We’re told the man then ran off with a handgun, was asked by deputies to drop the gun, then was shot when he didn’t drop it.
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The shooting investigation led to deputies blocking off both lanes of US-1 for a short time before keeping US-1 South blocked for more than two hours. Stephanie Foss told Action News Jax she was caught in the initial traffic after deputies started responding to the shooting.
“I just kept saying, ‘oh my gosh,’ we were in shock,” Foss said, “they taped off everything and blocked both sides of the road. But it was just very hectic. Very, very fast.”
Foss said she and her boyfriend were driving on US-1 when deputies started rushing into the area to respond to the shooting. She told us that a nurse had been sitting in the car next to her and tried getting out to help, which is when Foss said she overheard her conversation with a deputy about what happened.
“They turned her away and told her that it was a high-speed chase and that he got out of [his] car, or, rather, truck, to run, and that he was armed. So they shot him,” Foss said.
Foss said the largest law enforcement response was the largest she’s ever seen.
“Cops, detectives, everybody started flying in and there. By the time I took those photos, there was probably 30 officers on scene,” Foss said.
The sheriff’s office said that, right now, it is not sharing the identity of the suspect, but shared that they died shortly after being flown to a nearby hospital. The sheriff’s office has planned a briefing to give an update on the shooting at 10:00 AM on Wednesday.
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