A routine fishing trip for a Georgia couple turned into a terrifying fight for survival Sunday evening in Atlantic Beach, ending with their assailant dead after an armed standoff with police.
The couple had driven down to theDune Island Preserve boat ramp, a spot they had never tried before, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.
Shortly after 6 p.m., while they were casting their lines, they heard gunshots across the water.
About 150 yards away, they saw a man was firing a rifle into the river. The husband walked over to check on the situation and was met with the gun pointed directly at him.
The suspect accused the pair of calling police and threatened,
“The only way you’re getting out of here is dead,” he told them, JSO Chief Alan Parker said at a press conference at the scene Monday night.
As the husband tried to walk away, bullets struck the pier at their feet, splintering wood.
The encounter briefly seemed to ease when the couple offered the man a drink. But as the husband handed over a Gatorade, the suspect again raised the rifle at his head.
A desperate struggle broke out, and the husband managed to wrestle the gun away, emptied the magazine, and tossed it aside.
The couple fled to their car, thinking the danger had passed, but moments later the suspect rammed their vehicle head-on with his truck, sideswiping their car before driving off.
Deputies arriving in the area soon found the suspect had continued onto Mayport Road, where he struck an unrelated vehicle before crashing into bushes and a utility pole.
He barricaded himself inside the wreckage, ignoring repeated commands to surrender during a tense 90-minute standoff.
At one point, officers saw him reach for a rifle case inside the cab. Nine officers fired, and the 37-year-old white male suspect did not survive his injuries.
The Georgia couple was left badly shaken but physically unharmed, JSO Chief T.K Waters said.
