MAYPORT, Fla. — Dalton Maddox was returning to work Monday evening when he got wind that something was going on around the corner in Mayport.
“I just saw the lights and everything like that and went back to work and after a while probably about an hour or so I heard what sounded like thunder but it came in real fast and got real quiet real fast so I knew it wasn’t thunder,” said Maddox. “Thunder don’t sound like that.”
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The sound was later revealed to be gunfire from nine police officers, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.
The incident started when investigators say the man was seen by a couple shooting his gun into the water on Dutton Island preserve boat ramp in Mayport.
JSO said the husband went to talk to the suspect, and that’s when the suspect pointed his gun at him. The husband and the suspect fought over the rifle, and the husband eventually got it and threw it into the water.
The husband then tried to leave with his wife in their car, but the suspect tried to hit them head-on with his car. The couple moved to avoid being hit, but were sideswiped in the process. Police said the suspect continued driving and hit another car on Mayport Road before stopping near the RaceTrac gas station.
Investigators said there was a 90-minute standoff between them and the suspect, who remained in his vehicle. JSO said when the suspect reached into a rifle case, 9 officers shot at him.
Watch the full news conference from JSO here.
The identity of the suspect has not been released, but investigators say he is a 37-year-old man.
JSO posted a picture of the rifle they said they recovered from the water. We asked JSO if a rifle was indeed found inside of the car of the suspect. They told Action News Jax that the car is still being investigated at this time.
JSO says this is their 14th officer-involved shooting of the year.
We asked JSO if the officers involved followed JSO’s response to resistance protocol in this incident, why they think there are more officer-involved shootings this year than in the previous two years, and if they knew what the motive behind this incident was.
“This continues to be an active investigation, what was said on-scene is the only info that has been made available in reference to it,” responded JSO. “As is typical, we will work to release a Critical Incident Briefing in the coming weeks which would include all available information about the incident for release.”
JSO said the State Attorney’s Office is investigating the incident.
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