A 16-year-old is in critical condition after reportedly shooting himself during a tense standoff near the Avenues Mall. The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office indicates that officers attempted to communicate with him in hopes of a peaceful resolution.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — After an intense standoff on the Southside on Monday morning, a teenage boy is fighting for his life. Authorities say the teenager shot himself amid a prolonged response from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.
The situation unfolded early at 6:24 a.m. when the boy’s mother alerted JSO. She reported discovering a note left by her son that expressed suicidal thoughts and mentioned he had a handgun, explained Chief Mike Shell from JSO’s Homeland Security Division.
Initially, officers arrived at the boy’s residence but found it empty. The search led them by 7 a.m. to the 9500 block of Philips Highway near the Regal Avenues movie theatre, where they located the teenager.
As officers attempted interaction, the boy unexpectedly drew a handgun from his waistband, described Chief Shell.
Shell said one officer deployed a Taser while another officer fired a handgun multiple times. Neither officer hit the teen.
The teen then fled northbound into a nearby parking lot while still armed with a handgun, Shell said.
“At that point, he’s armed with a handgun, pointing it at his head, and he’s what we would consider an open barricade,” Shell said.
Shell explained that an open barricade is when someone is armed and in a position of advantage, making it unsafe for officers to approach, even though the person may not be barricaded inside a building.
Around 8 a.m., JSO called its SWAT team and Behavioral Crisis Response Unit to the scene.
Members of the Behavioral Crisis Response Unit began talking with the teen by phone while remaining in a safe position. Shell said the crisis responders were coached by a member of JSO’s crisis negotiation team during the interaction.
Around 9:15 a.m., SWAT brought armored vehicles into the parking lot to better contain the situation and protect people in nearby businesses, Shell said. The goal was to move the teen east toward the rear of the Regal Avenues parking lot, where SWAT members were positioned to take him into custody if he moved in that direction.
As the armored vehicles moved in, the teen began moving east. Shell said officers then used pepperball rounds in an area-saturation method. Instead of directly striking the teen, officers fired the rounds at the ground around him in an attempt to continue moving him toward the safer area.
Shell said the teen then pulled out the handgun and shot himself in the head. He was taken to an area hospital with life-threatening injuries.
The response led to road closures along Philips Highway between Shad Road and Interstate 95, which Shell described as a safety measure.
The closures also affected nearby businesses.
Ilham Richo, who works at Choban Express Grill on Philips Highway, said the restaurant was preparing to open when the road closures disrupted the morning.
“We were scared and confused too. You know, we don’t know what’s going on in the area,” Richo said.
A troubled history
Shell also shared information about the teen’s previous school history.
He said the teen was expelled from Mayport Middle School in 2023, but not arrested, after making threats to kill “everyone and everything,” including the school’s dean.
While speaking with mental health responders during Monday’s incident, the teen also told them he had been “Baker Acted” before, Shell said. Investigators were working to confirm that information at the time of the briefing.
The teen’s identity is not being released because he is a juvenile.
JSO is continuing to investigate the circumstances surrounding the officers’ use of their weapons.
Responding to mental health crises
Shell said the incident was difficult for everyone involved.
“I don’t think anyone wants an ending like this,” Shell said. “There are people in distress, we want them to reach out, get them, get resources, and this isn’t the goal that anyone has.”
Shell said the situation was difficult for the teen’s family and the officers who responded.
“We try everything that we can in these situations to end them peacefully because we don’t want to see that happen to that young man or anyone,” Waters said.
First Coast News Crime and Safety Expert Ken Jefferson said calls involving a person experiencing a mental health crisis while armed with a gun are among the most difficult situations for law enforcement.
“When you’ve got a person who is going through a mental crisis and they have a weapon, that’s a double whammy for police officers,” Jefferson said.
JSO said its Behavioral Crisis Response Unit and Crisis Negotiation Unit coached officers in real time as they worked to de-escalate the situation.
Jefferson said trained professionals must handle these situations because of the danger involved.
“You can’t put anybody in harm’s way, so you have to put the trained professionals there,” Jefferson said.
He said the outcome was not what anyone wanted, but officers worked to resolve the situation peacefully.
The investigation remains ongoing.