One dead after police-involved shooting

Traffic stop leads to driver being shot; officer not injured

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office responded to an officer involved shooting early Wednesday morning at 900 Rogero Road, right off the Arlington Expressway in Arlington.

Chief Tom Hackney with JSO was at the scene and told Channel 4 this all started as a traffic stop on the service road at Arlington and Rogero, right near a closed down bank.

Chief Hackney said around 2:15 a.m. Wednesday, Officer Jeff Edwards observed a car in the Bert Road area, an area JSO said has frequent drug activity.

It is not known why the suspect was originally pulled over, but the suspect ran a couple of stop signs, attempting to avoid the officer, according to Chief Hackney.

Officer Edwards was able to catch up with the car, and that is when Hackney said something went wrong.

"In the course of the traffic stop, something caused the officer to become alarmed and felt threatened. The officer used deadly force, discharged his firearm at least seven times, struck the suspect in the car," Hackney said. "The suspect is dead on the scene. The officer is not hurt."

Hackney said it wasn't immediately known if the driver had a weapon.

IMAGES:  Driver shot, killed during traffic stop in Arlington

Officer Edwards is a three year veteran of JSO and will be put on paid administrative leave, which is standard when dealing with police-involved shootings.

A witness who works 200 yards from the scene told Channel 4 he saw the officer pull the driver over and that everything happened in about 30 seconds.

"I saw a cop get out of the vehicle. I could see perfectly what he was doing," the witness said. "I saw him get out of the vehicle and immediately yelled 'let me see your hands, let me see your hands,' then shots started ringing out."

Chief Hackney said there was no other information at this time and that investigators would be at the scene until at least daybreak.

JSO is expected to hold a news conference sometime Wednesday to announce more information, possibly including the identity of the suspect.

Channel 4 will be at the news conference and will also post updates on air and on News4Jax whenever any new information becomes available.