JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A man recently indicted on multiple sex charges in Maryland was shot Friday morning as Jacksonville police, the U.S. Marshals Service and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement were serving a warrant at a home near the intersection of Jones Road and Garden Street.
Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Chief T.K. Waters identified the man as Arnold Hager, 37, who is in critical condition.
Waters said officers and agents called out to Hager on loudspeakers to come out with his hands up just before 9 a.m. Instead, two shots were fired in an unknown direction from inside.
“He shot from the trailer in an unknown direction. Officers were outside and were threatened,” Waters said.
When the man was seen with a black handgun in his hand, three JSO officers and one FDLE agent returned fire, striking him several times, Waters said.
New4Jax spoke with a woman who said she was in the house when police showed Friday morning.
“I was scared, I started crying,” Amber Clements said.
Clements, Hager’s brother’s fiancé, said she had to speak with JSO downtown after that shooting.
Clements said Hager is originally from Jacksonville but has been living up north. She said he was visiting to help with housework and she had no idea he was wanted for multiple child sex abuse charges.
Hager was indicted on eight counts of sexual battery in St. Mary’s County, Maryland. News4Jax learned the victim was a 13-year-old child.
Waters said the Marshals’ Felon Apprehension Strike Team tracked to the home because a friend or girlfriend lives there but they said no one else was home during the shooting.
Bullet holes could be seen on the side of the Northwest Jacksonville home after the incident.
That’s where Clements said she woke up to police surrounding the house Friday morning.
“Next thing you know they’re telling me to come out with my hands up, I come out, they wanted him, they get me away from everything so I really couldn’t see and then I start hearing a bunch of gunshots and I hear that he’s down,” Clements said.
No officers were injured in the shooting. The officers who fired shots were put on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation. The officers are not being named because of judge has ruled that officers in police-involved shootings receive protection under Marcy’s Law.
News4Jax learned a second person was taken to a hospital with a non-gunshot injury.
This is the fifth time this year that JSO has shot someone and the second time it involved officers serving a warrant.