Hours long standoff causes concerns at Southside apartment complex

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — What started as a reported assault at a southside apartment complex then led to an hours-long standoff. Neighbors said officers at Cabana Club Apartments had their guns drawn, and now have more questions than answers.

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“We’re all just blocked in – so we can’t really get in our out of the complex. We’re just blocked in by JSO,” Isaiah Smith, a neighbor, said.

The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office responded to the scene around 9 a.m. Tuesday. Neighbors told Action News Jax a man inside one of the apartments pointed a gun out the window at police.

Action News Jax’s Robert Grant observed SWAT on the scene and officers were shouting commands at someone inside the apartment. It went on for about five hours until around 2:30 p.m. the scene cleared. A woman did leave the apartment and went into the back of an ambulance visibly injured.

“Just a lot of fear, because they’re yelling at us with guns drawn to go home. They’re not explaining anything. I mean you can hear them right now yelling and we don’t know what’s going on. It’s just disturbing,” Smith said.

Several businesses like Marco’s Pizza and the Goodwill on Baymeadows Road closed down while the standoff continued for the safety of its customers.

The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said it has no additional information to release, but we requested the incident report and will update this story when we receive it.

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