Florida Detective Critically Wounded; Suspect Arrested

JACKSONVILLE, Florida -- A Jacksonville police officer is in critical condition after he was shot Wednesday morning near Orange Park.

On his way to work and taking his teenage son to school about 7:20 a.m., the off-duty detective decided to stop of a car that had driven by him erratically, Chief Tom Hackney said. After initially not stopping, the suspect pulled over near some railroad tracks on Collins Road near Roosevelt Boulevard and immediately got out and shot the detective in the head, upper body and hand. The detective also returned fire but did not hit the suspect.

Although he didn’t call in the traffic stop, he had enough foresight to put on his body armor during the stop. “Thank God that he did,” Hackney said.

The vest also was clearly marked “Police,” he said.

The suspect was wounded a short time later by arriving officers after a brief chase.

Kevin Ryan Rojas, 19, was charged with two counts of attempted murder and two counts of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, although he remained hospitalized Wednesday afternoon.

The unidentified undercover narcotics officer was airlifted to UF Health Jacksonville.

Rojas had just been involved in an argument with his live-in girlfriend where he threatened to harm himself saying “Today could be his last day on earth” and two shots were fired. The gun belonged to a roommate who she said legally bought it for protection because of the way he was acting the last few weeks.

“He carried that domestic disturbance out into the road with him,” Hackney said.

No 911 call was made from the first incident, he said.

He said the name of the detective is not being released at this time due to the nature of his work and for his safety. He was hired as a police officer in 2008 and has been in narcotics for a couple of years.

The officer’s unmarked car was peppered with gunfire but that the officer’s 14-year-old son was not harmed.

“It’s by God’s grace that he was not shot as well,” Hackney said.

Hackney said the wounded officer was conscious when he was taken from the scene and also was alert following surgery but still in critical condition and stabilized. He said people who were nearby when the shooting occurred pulled the officer off the tracks and got the car moved as a train was approaching.

After the suspect fired four times from a 9mm gun and the detective shot nine times, Hackney said the suspect stole a Ford F-350 flatbed truck at a nearby business and was located by two other officers on Collins Road. When they tried to stop him, he drove into his Whispering Pines subdivision at a dead end and crashed into his neighbor’s house.

He then went into his own home and the two officers said they saw him pointing the gun at them through a sliding-glass door. Officers Sam Pagan, a six-year veteran, and Clyde Jacobs, a seven-year veteran, fired a total of eight times hitting Rojas at least three times in the torso and a leg and hand, Hackney said. It was their first police-involved shooting.

Carl “Gus” Thayer, who works at 84 Lumber on Collins, said a customer told him about the shooting.

“I had a customer come in and say they saw one guy lying on the ground and one guy standing up with blood coming out of his groin area. He had a vest on,” Thayer said, apparently referring to the day-glow vests police wear for visibility in some situations.

Collins Road was closed for a good part of the day. Morning traffic was snarled near the scene with Highway Patrol and police redirecting motorists trying to use Collins.

Police from other agencies also arrived on scene. Officers also gathered at UF Health.

Other agencies, including the St. Johns, Alachua and Citrus county sheriff’s offices as well as the Fraternal Order of Police and Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry have posted messages of support on social media for the officer and the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.

Shannon Hartley, spokesman for the union, referred all questions related to the shooting to the Sheriff’s Office.

“We are very fortunate that this doesn’t happen more often ... I think we are feeling very thankful it wasn’t worse,” Hartley said.

This is the fourth police-involved shooting of the year in Jacksonville, but no suspects were killed. Last year five suspects were killed in 10 police-involved shootings, according to Times-Union records.

Wednesday’s shooting of the off-duty narcotics detective is the latest in a history of shootings of Jacksonville police by suspects.

In April 2013 Officer J. Andrew Benson was shot in the arm after attempting a traffic stop.

The shooter fired several rounds out the window of his car.

In July 2013, Officer J.C. Prentice was shot during the arrest of a man suspected in several burglaries. As the arrest was being made, the man reached for his gun and fired.

Two officers were also shot in Jacksonville in 2008.

In January 2008, Officer Jared Reston was working off-duty at Regency Square mall and was shot in the face, thigh and buttock. A total of six bullets struck Reston who fired back 14 times and killed the suspect.

In September 2008, Officer Clifford Sames was shot when he went to talk to a man acting suspiciously and grabbed the man’s elbow and arm. The suspect pulled a gun and fired twice, once missing Sames and then striking him in the neck.The suspect was shot and killed.

Wednesday, speaking about the morning’s shooting of the undercover detective, Hackney addressed the precarious position officers can find themselves in at any time.

“It really highlights the unknown nature of police work,” he said.

Tribune News Service