A Florida man suspected of involvement in a hit-and-run is in the hospital after police shot him when he responded to questioning by firing an AK-47.
Devon Rashad Spencer, also known as "Lil' Kev" and "Kevin," is accused of firing an AK-47 rifle in the general direction of Jacksonville Police Officer Clifford Sames on Saturday. Police approached his house while investigating a hit-and-run about a half-mile from Spencer's home.
No one was injured in that crash.
According to Chief of Detectives Adam Brown of the Jacksonville Sheriff‘s Office, when Officer Sames approached Spencer's house to determine whether anyone there had witnessed it, he was met with "heavy fire."
"An eyewitness at the scene indicated that Spencer fired his weapon first and that Officer Sames returned fire," Chief Brown said. "Also, there was physical evidence at the scene that indicated that the suspect [Spencer] did in fact have a weapon … and that weapon is an AK-47 assault rifle, known on the street as a 'chopper.'"
Witnesses say that Spencer fired the AK-47 from a red sport utility vehicle parked in the front yard, then fled to a shed two houses down. While he was running, Officer Sames shot him twice -- once in the shoulder and once in the upper leg.
Spencer was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries and arrested shortly thereafter on numerous charges.
His neighbor, Shawn Taylor, was incredulous, telling The Florida Times-Union that "I don’t know what he was thinking about shooting at the police. Shoot at the police and something bad is going to happen to you."
"I don’t know what they’ve got going on," Taylor added. "That’s why we keep to ourselves. You know, around here in this type of area you just keep to yourself and hopefully everything will work out."
