A man believed to have fired shots Thursday morning at Cleveland Arms Apartments before leading officers on a vehicle and foot pursuit to a building on Avenue B was shot and killed after refusing an officer's order to come out from under the building.
Police haven't released the suspect's identity, but family members identify him as 32-year-old Thomas McMullen.
The officer who fired three or four shots at McMullen was not injured, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office.
Chief Tom Hackney said several witnesses provided descriptions of the gunman and car seen leaving Cleveland Arms about 11 a.m., and responding officers spotted the vehicle at the intersection of 45th Street and Avenue B and gave chase. When McMullen got out of the car and ran, officers said he had a gun in his waistband.
Police said McMullen ran behind a house converted into a barber shop in the 5700 block of Avenue B and was seen crawling under the building. When a K-9 officer ordered him to come out, he refused and yelled profanities.
IMAGES: Police-involved shooting in Northwest Jacksonville
Officers said when McMullen reached toward his waist, the K-9 officer opened fire.
After the shooting, a gun was recovered along the route of the foot chase.
Hackney said it was too early to know if McMullen had a gun at the time he was shot, but "the last thing that these officers knew was that the suspect they saw go under that house was armed."
Hackney said a woman who was driving the car seen leaving Cleveland Arms and involved in the pursuit was in custody and being questioned.
Hackney said the officer, who has not been named, has been placed on administrative leave while the shooting is under investigation. He said police would announce the suspect's name and other details of the investigation on Friday.
A woman who said she was McMullen's aunt told Channel 4 he was 32 years old.
"We're hurt, of course. It was our family member. OK?" said Annanesa Pinder, the suspect's aunt. "We're hurt. He just had a baby. He just found out he had a baby, and he has another baby on the way. He was a human being."
Carter Woodson Elementary School and Northwestern Middle School were both placed on lockdown briefly as a precaution.
This is the eighth police shooting in Jacksonville this year and the fifth fatal police shooting.
