JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A woman in her 40s or 50s was shot midday Friday in front of a convenience store on Lane Avenue South near Park Street, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.
Police said the woman and man showed up in the parking lot of the Prime Food Stop separately about the same time just before the shooting.
Surveillance video from a business next door showed the woman walk in front of the man, who reached out and hit the woman inappropriately. Then they started fighting. A second camera angle shown to News4Jax showed she pulled a gun from her waistband and he raised his hands and backed off. She lowered the gun, approached him and started talking, then the video showed her hitting him with a gun.
After an initial scuffle, video from a camera at the Florida Fish Market showed them talking again before she throws a punch at him. She picked up her things and they both begin walking toward the store, where police say the shooting happened.
Six minutes after the first encounter, the video shows the man walking away with her gun in his hand. Other cameras show him running and appearing to throw the gun away.
“As of right now, it appears very random,” Lt. Jamie Eason said. “There was possibly a physical altercation and a verbal altercation that led to the shooting.”
The woman was hospitalized but expected to recover.
News4Jax crime and safety analyst Kent Jefferson said from what he sees in the video, it appears the woman did the right thing.
“She has the right to defend herself. He hit her. It’s called battery against a person,” Jefferson said.
The gunman ran south into a nearby apartment complex and disappeared. They said a helicopter, K-9s and a task force were used trying to find him.
The owner of the fish market said he always sees both the suspect and victim around his store. He says they are both good people and doesn’t know what happened in this situation.