Jacksonville, FL — An officer with the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office is on administrative leave, after discharging their service weapon at a wanted robbery suspect. That suspect was not hit, but was eventually taken down by a JSO K-9.
Brian Kee, the Assistant Chief of the Major Case Section at JSO, says this all started Thursday afternoon, when patrol officers were actively searching on the Westside for a robbery suspect.
We're told there was a warrant out for this individual in connection to the recent robbery of an elderly man and knocking him off his walker. Kee says there had been an additional robbery in that area Thursday at around 12:30 PM, matching this same suspect's description.
Officers then spotted an individual that appeared to be the suspect at around 4:30 PM, but Kee says when officers told this individual to stop, he ran and refused to comply with their demands. Police say this happened in the 5700 block of Lexington Avenue, which is right near San Juan Avenue.
Police say one officer tried to use an electronic control device to subdue him, but that failed, with the suspect continuing to run.
At some point during this pursuit, Kee says an officer discharged their firearm as the suspect tried to jump a fence, but missed.
After this, JSO K-9 Valor was sent after the suspect, which Kee says was successful. We're told the suspect was bit on the buttocks by K-9 Valor and was briefly hospitalized for his injuries.
As of Thursday evening, Kee says this suspect is being interviewed by detectives. Neither his identity, nor his photo are being released at this point, as JSO says it could ruin the integrity of the robbery cases they're investigating.
Kee says the suspect is being investigated in connection to around 5 robberies to individuals, but says it could be more or could be less.
The officer who fired on the suspect was wearing a body-worn camera, according to Kee. He says that's being looked through by detectives to determine what exactly happened.
At this time, Kee says the suspect was not found to be in possession of any weapon, but they are still canvassing the area.
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