Woman arrested in police-involved shooting

Male suspect killed by Jacksonville officer; Tammy Lynn Gill arrested

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Channel 4 has learned police have a suspect in custody related to Tuesday morning's police-involved shooting along Atlantic Boulevard.

Police arrested Tammy Lynn Gill. Gill is charged with written threats to do bodily harm, carrying a concealed weapon and fleeing law enforcement. A second, male suspect, whose name hasn't been released, was killed by police.

Gill worked at the Atlantic Self Storage in Mayport where workers were hesitant to speak when Channel 4's Emily Turner stopped by.

JSO Chief Tom Hackney said Gill and a man had entered the Academy Sports store about 9:20 a.m., and the man was carrying a rifle.

Academy Sports told police its not store policy to allow customers to bring guns inside the store. Part of its business is to prepare guns, so customers do frequently bring guns to the store, but they have to be checked in at customer service and not carried through the store.

Employees confronted the man at the front door and informed him of the policy, and the man refused to cooperate with their instructions to turn the gun over to them, Hackney said.

The man continued through the store and was confronted by management again inside the ammunition aisle, Hackney said. The man refused again to turn the gun over to employees.

Hackney said employees were on the phone with police the entire time.

Channel 4 spoke with firearms rights attorney Eric Friday about the incident.

"Just because a sign says no guns in this business, doesn't mean you can't carry. But if you're asked to leave, you have to leave. Most stores that sell firearms have a policy of if you are coming, if your gun's visible, they ask you to unload it and check it at the front door to make sure it's unloaded," said Friday.

Since the suspects wouldn't follow the store rules and wouldn't leave, police were called.

Officers arrived and tried to stop the truck, but Gill didn't stop driving, Hackney said. As the truck was leaving the parking lot, the man pointed a handgun through a rear sliding window of the truck at the officers.

One officer opened fire, striking the truck and the man, Hackney said. He said he's not sure if the man fired his weapon at officers.

Hackney said the truck continued westbound on Atlantic, where it stopped. The man was pronounced dead at the scene, and Gill was taken into custody.

Channel 4 Crime Analyst Ken Jefferson says that wasn't an easy call.

"Officers aren't supposed to shoot at moving targets, or a car like in this case. They would begin a pursuit, they would cut him off if at all possible. The actions of the officers has to be in the best interest of the public, if you got a lot of pedestrians outside, you definitely don't want to get into a gun fight with this person, if you got a lot of traffic on the road, you don't want to endanger the public by causing this person to drive more erratically," said Jefferson. "They (police) have a lot of decisions they have to weigh; however if they feel this person is strictly a threat, they have to use their best judgment and take him out."