JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A 17-year-old robbery suspect seen coming out of a Hendricks Avenue convenience store early Thursday was shot and killed by a police officer. The three other suspects who fled the scene -- all juveniles and Englewood High School students -- were tracked down, arrested and are facing charges of armed robbery and felony murder.
It began as a holdup of the Gate Gas station in the 3900 block of Hendricks Avenue in Miramar just after 1 a.m. Sgt. Matt Nemeth, who was off-duty and driving home, saw the masked men running out of the store. Nemeth radioed for backup.
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"He was in the right place at the right time, quite honestly," Jacksonville Sheriff's Office Chief Dwain Senterfitt said.
One of the responding backup officers, Officer Bernard Clark, ordered the fleeing suspects to stop and show their hands. When the four continued to flee, Clark fired one shot, which missed.
When the suspects scattered, Clark pursued one of them.
"He encountered that individual with his hands positioned as if he were holding a gun," Senterfitt said. "Officer Clark fired one more shot from his Glock. He struck the subject on time."
Police said Kenneth Bernard Marion was transported to Shands-Jacksonville Medical Center, where he died.
Other officers, some using police dogs, rounded up the other three, later identified as Richard Douglas, 16, and Kenneth Duncan and Robert Wallace, both 17.
All three suspects are Englewood High School students.
While police are not sure if the man who was killed had a weapon, officers found two handguns -- a 9 mm Glock and a .38-caliber revolver -- on the residential street where the four subjects fled. They also recovered money, possibly stolen from the Gate station, in the area.
According to police reports, all three have confessed to holding up the store.
The store clerk said the four were laughing as they thought they were getting away.
According to Florida statutes, the teens are charged with murder because a person was killed during the commission of a felony.
Clark, a 3½-year veteran of the JSO, will be placed on administrative leave during the shooting investigation, which is standard operating procedure after a police-involved shooting.
This was the third police-involved shooting in Jacksonville in 2008 and the 20th in the last 14 months. Police said 17 of those involved armed suspects. In 11 cases, the suspects shot at police officers. Two of those officers were seriously wounded in the exchange of gunfire.
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- February 21, 2008: Suspected Robber Shot, Killed By Officer