JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — UPDATE: The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office arrested a man accused of smashing multiple windows of Jacksonville City Hall early Friday morning.
Just before 2 a.m., JSO was called out to the building in downtown Jacksonville in reference to vandalism.
When police arrived, they found the suspect, identified as Manuel Guilarte-Rodriguez, 62, lying facedown on the sidewalk in from of city hall, with an injury to his left hand.
According to a police report, there was damage to 20 windows on the front and side of the building, as well as damage to the front glass door.
Rodriguez told officers he was trying to get a valid driver’s license, but it’s not clear why his license was no longer valid. His friend says it was a major point of frustration. “Every day, he would say he wants to be a normal citizen, wants to get a job, wants an apartment, wants to get his license, so he could pay taxes and be an American citizen,” he added.
And he also says he was there overnight when Rodriguez reached his breaking point. “He woke me up a quarter to one and says, I’m leaving. It’s my time to go, I’ve gotta go. I said what are you talking about, he says I gotta leave,” he recalled. “I heard a whole bunch of noise and then he was popping off these windows at City Hall,” he described. “You pushed this guy to the max, you pushed him to the limit.”
Original Story:
Multiple windows at Jacksonville City Hall were broken early Friday morning.
A spokesperson for the city says a person vandalized the building near the front entrance. Mainly small windows were broken around the display cases. We know someone has been taken into custody.
The Jacksonville Sherriff’s Office was contacted, but no further information was released.
This is a developing story and will be updated as we learn more.
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