Florida Airport Shooting, Shots Exchanged, One Suspect Still On The Run [Video]

A Florida airport shooting Wednesday has left two men in jail and at least one man on the run after a Hollywood-style car chase that involved possible shots near an elementary school and a possible attempt to steal a new car to continue the chase from the Jacksonville International Airport parking lot.

Jacksonville, Florida Sheriff’s Chief Tom Hackney gave a detailed description of the dramatic car chase, saying that it all started when SWAT officers closed in on a stolen Ford Crown Victoria. Instead of surrendering peacefully, the car of young men sped off, apparently performing evasive maneuvers and eventually ending up in the busy airport’s rental car return area.

The officers tried to block the Ford with two of their own vehicles, but the driver began to slam both cars by backing up and then slamming back.

You’d think it would only work in a movie, but the powerful Crown Victoria — which is frequently also the choice of law enforcement — broke free.

Officers fired. However, even though they hit the fleeing car three times, the suspects got away.

The chase widened. A call came in that someone heard shots near an elementary school, and the school was briefly put on lockdown.

The police eventually tracked the car to a Jacksonville apartment complex, where they captured a 17-year old and a 27-year-old suspect. The older man was the car’s owner, and the younger man was shot in the ankle, putting him on the scene.

At least one other suspect, identified by Jacksonville Sheriff’s Department as 20-year-old Rodney Lorenzo Addison, is still on the run.

Hackney wanted to emphasize that the three — or possibly four — suspects aren’t terrorists. They are wanted on possible auto theft and cocaine charges.

However, they should be considered armed and dangerous, willing to use deadly force, including charging at police officers with a vehicle that “weighs several thousand pounds.”

In a video provided by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Department office, Chief Tom Hackney explains the detailed sequence of events, including why the officers decided that they had no choice but to use deadly force at JAX airport:

At the time of writing, Jacksonville Sheriff’s Department plans to provide more details at an 11 AM press conference on Thursday about the Florida airport shooting.

[Rodney Addison photo via Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office]

[photo by Remus Moise via Shutterstock]