JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — People on their morning commute to work through Orange Park were forced to find another route Wednesday after a shootout shut down part of I-295.
“Officers discovered that two occupants from two separate vehicles were exchanging gunfire at each other while traveling on the interstate,” JSO Sergeant Michael Wong said.
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JSO said the shooting happened in the 295 northbound lanes just south of the Roosevelt Boulevard exit.
The shooters’ bullets also hit a third vehicle — a car that was passing by. Fortunately, JSO said no one was injured in that particular car.
On a busy road like this, neighbors can’t help but wonder if it could have been them on the road.
Karin Lindstam said she hears plenty of crashes on I-295 but never any gunshots.
She said she’s going to stay alert next time she gets behind the wheel.
“That’s very concerning, just to think you’re driving down the road just hanging and then possibly get hurt,” Lindstam said.
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Others who live in the area feel the same.
“It’s very scary,” Amy Bryant said.
At this time, investigators don’t know what the two cars were shooting at each other for.
Action News Lax law and safety expert Dale Carson said shooting from a moving vehicle is a criminal offense.
“It’s attempted murder of the other individual in the car,” Carson said.
Carson has years of experience in law enforcement, including time with the FBI.
He said when your stray bullets hit something, or someone else, that’s your responsibility.
“When you hit someone else’s car, that’s a second aggravated battery. Certainly, maybe attempted murder charge. You are responsible for where the round from your discharged firearm ends up,” Carson said.
He also said shooting from a moving car is like shooting into a crowd.
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“When you’re discharging a firearm, that’s up to you to know where that round is gonna go, and if you don’t, that’s not somebody else’s problem, that’s your problem,” Carson said.
So what do you do if you find yourself in the position of the third car in this case?
“The first thing I would recommend that people do is to get off the road. Clearly, slow down,” Carson said. “The farther you are away from the firearm the less likely you are to be struck.”
One of the vehicles is still unaccounted for.
JSO said one man involved is in the hospital with life-threatening injuries and they will be questioning him later.
We requested the incident report from JSO. We’re told there is no new information for the public at this time.
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