A crowded parking garage at Jacksonville International Airport became a shooting gallery as police attempted to arrest a suspected car thief Wednesday afternoon. Police wounded one of the suspects, took a second into custody and there's an additional suspect yet to be apprehended, according to the Florida Times-Union.
Police were investigating a May 7 car theft when they came across the suspects driving a Ford Crown Victoria that had been reported stolen. The officers followed the car into the rental car return area of the parking garage where the driver "stopped in an odd position," according to NBC News.
The driver rammed into the police cars and hit at least one other vehicle when the police officers attempted to confront him, the Florida Times-Union reported. The driver repeatedly rammed the police cars, reversed away from them, and then rammed them again. The car managed to escape the police blockade and speed out of the garage, in reverse, NBC News reported.
According to Sheriff's Chief Tom Hackney, a member of the SWAT team shot at the suspects three times with an AR-15 rifle while they drove away.
The ordeal came to an end when other police officers located the car at a Jacksonville apartment complex. The officers arrested a 27 year-old man and a 17 year-old boy who had been shot through the ankle. Police did not release their identities. A third man, identified as Rodney Lorenzo Addison, 20, is still on the loose.
The airport parking garage that the shooting took place in is a high traffic area, the kind of situation police officers rarely like to discharge weapons in. Hackney explained that the officers had no choice.
"The public safety was at risk," Hackney said. "That's why deadly force was used."
Hackney said it was not known if the suspects were armed with guns or not.
Travelers were allowed back in the parking garage late Wednesday afternoon. Departures and arrivals from the airport ran on schedule, according to the Jacksonville Aviation Authority.
