JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Police say one young man died after he was shot running from a stolen car stopped in Northwest Jacksonville on Thursday afternoon. There's a manhunt going on for a second suspect who ran from the scene.
According to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, the shooting happened in the early afternoon after a car police said was stolen tried to ram a police cruiser trying to exit a cemetery, then crashed on a dirt road behind homes on Helena Street, in a neighborhood near the intersection of 45th Street and Moncrief Road.
Police said both the driver and passenger got out with guns in their hands, but the passenger dropped his and ran in one direction. Officers said the driver kept his gun and ran in the other direction. Sgt. J.C. Nobles fired twice while running after the driver, then twice more when the driver crouched down and turned in his direction.
The driver was taken to UF Health Jacksonville, where he died.
The second suspect was not captured at the scene and is considered armed and dangerous. He was described as a young black man with dreadlocks pulled back in a ponytail, 6 feet tall and weighing between 160 and 170 pounds. He was last seen wearing a black T-shirt and khaki pants running northeast from the area.
The manhunt going included a helicopter, K-9 teams, officers on the ground with weapons out and door-to-door searches.
Sandra Wilcox just bought a new home in Northwest Jacksonville and she heard the gunshots from inside her house.
"I knew the neighborhood I was moving into when I bought this house. I knew what I was moving in to but I tried to distance myself from that stuff and try to live my life," Wilcox said.
Anyone with any information about the wanted man is asked to call 911.
The name of the suspect killed and other details are expected to be released at a news conference at 10:30 a.m. Friday.
This is the first confirmed officer-involved shooting of the year. In another incident last week, both officers and a homeowner fired shots at a burglar, but it wasn't known which bullet hit the suspect.
"I've said many times, these kids have got to stop carrying these guns. It's a stolen car, two armed suspects, an officer had to shoot to defend himself and that's a terrible situation and we're trying to convince these kids to quit carrying guns illegally," said Sheriff John Rutherford.
This violence has people like Wilcox very worried.
"I just had a man here a few minutes ago. I'm about to put a burglar door here try to secure myself in my home," she said.