JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A deputy with the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office is OK after being shot at during a road rage incident while Tropical Storm Ian moved into North Florida.
Sheriff Robert A. Hardwick tells First Coast News that the deputy is expected to be OK.
Hardwick says the incident happened shortly after midnight Thursday after a victim reported a person brandishing a firearm on the roadway in the Moultrie Creek area.
Deputies say they were able to locate the vehicle traveling on US-1
As the deputy was attempting to do a U-turn to apprehend the vehicle, Hardwick says the suspect fired a shotgun.
Hardwick says the blast hit the deputies' windshield, but the deputy was not injured.
During the pursuit, the deputy successfully performed a pit maneuver and apprehended the suspect and a woman driver.
Hardwick says Gary Green was charged in connection to the incident.
"It makes me sick to my stomach," says Hardwick. "... that deputy sheriff should ultimately be dead. By the grace of god, of course it's a double-aught buck, and actually the pellets were actually all around where the deputy's head would be."
Hardwick says the deputy continued to pursue Green and later helped bring him into custody.
