Jacksonville police shoot gunman in motel parking lot while investigating separate case
In the second police shooting in three days in Jacksonville, three sheriff's officers shot an armed suspect, this one at a motel in critical condition, Chief Brian Kee said.
It started with a 911 call about 3:15 a.m. Saturday saying someone had been shot at the Scottish Inns at 2300 Philips Highway, possibly on the second floor, Key said. The three officers went to the room and talked with the two occupants who said they had been sleeping and weren't aware of a shooting.
As the officers stepped out into the breezeway, they saw a vehicle pulling into the parking lot and a man on foot shoot at it. The two people inside were not hit, but the bullet struck the left tail light, Kee said.
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The officers ordered the suspect to drop the handgun, but he did not comply, he said.
"All three officers fired with their issued handguns and strike the suspect, who goes down right there in the parking lot," Kee said.
He said the people inside the car "didn't even realize they'd been shot at." It was unknown whether they knew the suspect.
No one else was injured. The suspect was later identified as 37-year-old Javon Tyrone Jones.
Later Saturday the Sheriff's Office advised they did end up finding another man shot and killed in a different room at the motel. It was unclear whether it had anything to do with the suspect who police shot.
Wednesday's fatal police shooting
The suspect is the ninth person shot by Jacksonville police this year, Times-Union records show. Six were killed. All last year there were six people shot by officers, three of whom died. In 2020, Jacksonville police shot 14 suspects with eight fatal and one other self-inflicted.
Saturday's shooting follow Wednesday's when Sheriff's Office narcotics detectives shot and killed a man suspected in a fentanyl-overdose death.
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Undercover detectives doing surveillance on 50-year-old Matthew Orlando Dilworth tried to pull his van over, but he got out and ran. They ordered him to stop, but he pulled out a handgun and fired at two detectives who then returned fire. Kee said no one was hit at that time, and the gunman took off and was jumping fences until he tried to hide in a wooded area off Broadway and Edgewood avenues.
About 10 minutes later he encountered two more detectives and opened fire on them. They shot back, and this time struck him in a front yard. Kee said Dilworth was still holding the gun with a finger on the trigger but was pronounced dead on the scene. No officers were harmed.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville police officers shoot gunman at Scottish Inn
