JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A man is recovering at a local hospital Tuesday morning after he was shot by an officer following a road rage incident and pursuit that stretched "roughly 25 to 30 miles" across Jacksonville, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office.
JSO Chief Alan Parker says at 12:52 a.m., an unknown male who they have identified as a victim, flagged down officers near Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway and Interstate 95, "reporting to have been involved in some type of road rage incident."
Parker says the alleged victim then told police that the man who is hospitalized, identified as Charles Guernsey, 45, "pointed a gun at him and threatened to kill him."
"So, he [the victim] pulls away, he gets on the phone with 911, he's reporting the information, he got the tag information," Parker said. "And at that point, he sees officers on the side of the road. He pulls up to them, tells them what happened, so they get behind the suspect."
Parker says police lights weren't turned on yet when Guernsey "took off" in a pickup truck. Florida Highway Patrol troopers took control of the pursuit when it transitioned onto the interstate, according to Parker.
"They attempted two different PIT maneuvers, with it being a larger vehicle," Parker said. "The PITs were unsuccessful, it continued on. So somewhere around I-295 and Commonwealth [Avenue], our officers were able to deploy stop sticks that were successful. It hit the vehicle tires and the suspect. He was able to continue on, but the tires were deflating. He continued here over to West Beaver Street."
Parker says in the 11000 block of West Beaver Street, officers were able to successfully complete a PIT maneuver on Guernsey's vehicle.
JSO says Guernsey then fled the vehicle on foot, as an officer "fired multiple rounds" and struck him; he was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
"He has a pretty extensive history in Baker County and Alachua [County], everything from traffic, drugs, domestic, ag [aggravated] assaults, burglary, trespass, a number of things, sale of cocaine," Parker said on Guernsey's alleged criminal record.
When asked if Guernsey fired any shots during the incident, Parker said: "That's all a part of the investigation at this point we're looking into."
Parker said JSO is in the process of obtaining a search warrant for the vehicle Guernsey was driving, as officers did not recover a gun from him during the incident.
Guernsey is being charged with evading officers, but it is still unclear why he ran from police or if he had a gun.
"If he has a gun, there’s legitimacy to the complaint. If he doesn’t have a gun, now you need to go back to that complainant and see if he lied to police and if they wanted to file a false report," said First Coast News Crime and Safety Expert Ken Jefferson.
This incident marks the second officer-involved shooting in 2024.
Investigators said Officer Stephen Hicks fired the shot. He's been with JSO for three years and Tuesday's shooting marks his second-officer involved shooting, with the first happening in 2022, while responding to a burglary.
Hicks chased and shot a man. The man survived and a State Attorney’s Office investigation found Hicks was justified in the shooting.
"It’s kinda uncommon to have that many shootings in that short period of time, you don’t hear about that often," said Jefferson.
Now, Hicks will be the center of another investigation.