JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A high-speed chase of a robbery suspect ended Friday afternoon with a police-involved shooting near the intersection of Hamilton Street and San Juan Avenue.
At about 4:30 p.m. Jacksonville police were chasing a man suspected in the robbery of the Fifth-Third Bank in the 6000 block of 103rd Street.
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"The suspect went into the bank, presented a note and made some verbal demands for cash. He left the bank and got into a gold SUV with no tag," said Jacksonville Sheriff's Office Assistant Chief Ron L. Lendvay.
Officers eventually spotted the suspect vehicle and a chase ensued to Lake Shore Boulevard several miles from the bank.
The pursuit led officers along the Ortega River just off U.S. Hwy 17 and reached speeds exceeding 70 mph before the suspect's SUV was stopped in a parking lot in an area near Lake Shore Middle School.
"The suspect got out of the vehicle that he was driving at the termination point of the pursuit with a firearm in his hand. A confrontation with the officers ensued. Shots were fired by a single officer," Lendvay said.
The suspect was shot several times. He was then rushed to Shands-Jacksonville Medical Center. According to the JSO, no officers were hurt in the incident.
"The main concern that we have is that once again we have a criminal in the city who took out a firearm, committed a violent crime, and then presented it to police officers when they confronted him. That is a concern for us, and we just have to do our jobs under these difficult circumstances," said Lendvay.
Neither the name of the suspect nor the officer's name were immediately released.
This was the fifth police-involved shooting in Jacksonville in 2009.