Police bust suspected drug den in Riverside

Cocaine, marijuana, guns found in home

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Police officers, with the help of SWAT team members, raided and shut down a suspected drug den on the 3000 block of Roselle Street in Riverside Friday afternoon.

"I happened to be in the kitchen. My son and I were in the kitchen and we heard the truck pull up. The police officers screamed out, "This is JSO! Get out of the apartment, get out of the house, we have an arrest warrant. Put your hands up!'" Trina Peterson, a neighbor, said.   

Peterson said that the home brought a lot of traffic to the area and many neighbors assumed drugs were involved, leaving many parents in the area worried.

"So my concern is, I have children. I have grandchildren who come over all the time. I was concerned that you never know if there's going to be gunfire. You'd never know if there's a private drug deal going on," Peterson said. 

Detectives had been performing undercover operations at the house, including buying drugs from the people staying there and keeping a close eye of the comings and goings of the random people who came to the home to buy drugs.

During their undercover operation, police learned that the people in the home were selling crack cocaine and marijuana, and had guns in the home, police said.

Because of the possibility of violence and the access to guns, heavily armed SWAT team members were called in to help if the situation turned ugly.

During the raid, which started around 2 p.m., police stormed the home with relative ease but had to shoot and kill a pit bull that charged at officers entering the home.

"We heard them banging on the door. Then we heard some gunfire. Then my son was like, 'Get down! Get down!' because we didn't know if there was going to be stray bullets or not. Of course, I was excited because I wanted to know what was going on. I wanted to see because this has been a plague in this neighborhood for about four or five months now," Peterson said. 

Once inside, police found the home in squalor and complete disarray, with food, trash and even used condoms strewn everywhere, leading police to believe that no one actually lived in the home, but just used it to buy and sell drugs.

According to police, three people -- two men and a woman -- were inside the home when police raided the residence, but only one person, Gary Harris, was arrested for possession of cocaine with the intent to sell. Police said that Harris also had an outstanding warrant for felony battery.

The other man at the house took off on foot and managed to escape from police, while the woman was released for unknown reasons. Police said that they weren't looking for the other man and that they didn't have any immediate charges on him.

Police said that they found cocaine, marijuana, several baggies with crack rocks in them and two guns --  a MAC-11 and a small Glock handgun -- inside the home.

"I'm very happy. I know that my kids are safe. I just hope that nothing like this happens in the neighborhood again. But I'm glad to know that JSO was on it and they kind of got the issue resolved rather quickly," Peterson said.

  


About the Authors:

Ashley Harding joined the Channel 4 news team in March 2013. She reports for and anchors The Morning Show.