Key Takeaways
- A Clay County deputy spotted William Tracy White Jr. driving a stolen Volkswagen sedan on Blanding Boulevard on August 24.
- White rammed a patrol car and a citizen’s car trying to escape, then fled on foot into a nearby Orange Park neighborhood.
- White entered a homeowner’s detached garage, and the homeowner shot White in the leg in response.
- Sheriff Michelle Cook said White’s injury did not appear to be life-threatening and both the homeowner and his wife were cooperating with investigators.
- White was charged with grand theft auto, burglary, aggravated fleeing, and multiple other offenses, with bond set at $610,024.
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ORANGE PARK, FL — A homeowner shot a fleeing suspect in the leg after the man ran from Clay County deputies and made his way into the homeowner’s detached garage. The chase began on Monday, Aug. 24, when a deputy spotted him driving a stolen car on Blanding Boulevard.
Sheriff Michelle Cook laid out the sequence at a press conference held less than three hours after it started, as reported by Clay Today.
According to an arrest report, the Volkswagen sedan had been reported stolen on Aug. 20. Shortly after the deputy turned on his emergency lights, the driver pulled into a parking lot east of Londonderry Drive. The deputy boxed him in. The sheriff’s office said the driver then rammed the patrol car and a citizen’s car trying to get away. Cook said nobody was injured in the collisions.
Then both people inside bailed. The driver ran one way. The passenger ran the other.
“After being involved in the hit and run crash, they exited the vehicle, both the driver, who was the male, and the passenger, who was the female, fled on foot,” Cook said. “The passenger, who was a female, was apprehended almost immediately, running down Blanding Boulevard.”
The passenger was identified as Amanda Jean Strickland, 32. The driver, William Tracy White Jr., 34, of Orange Park, ran into a nearby neighborhood.
“Once in the neighborhood, the suspect made his way into a detached garage,” Cook said. “The homeowner of the house intervened and actually shot the suspect who had entered his detached garage. The suspect was shot in the leg by the homeowner.”
Cook said White’s injury did not appear to be life-threatening.
The sheriff did not describe what happened inside that garage before the shot was fired, and that is the part any review of this shooting will turn on. Deadly force is justified only against an imminent threat of death or serious bodily harm. That standard is the same whether the confrontation happens in a garage or a living room.
Cook said the homeowner and his wife were both home when it happened and were cooperating with the investigation. She described Clay County as “Second Amendment country” and kept the rest brief. “I don’t want to go too much into it,” she said. “I just met with the homeowner and his wife, who were both at home when this happened. It’s not something that you want to do, but they were prepared.”
More from USA Carry:
Nobody in that house picked the day a man running from deputies would cut into their property. That is what preparation and mindset are for. Most of it is decided long before the moment arrives.
White was charged with grand theft auto, grand theft, two counts of resisting, obstructing or opposing law enforcement, aggravated fleeing with property damage, burglary, three counts of leaving the scene of an accident with property damage, and driving without a valid driver’s license. Cook said he also had two outstanding warrants. One was a local warrant for grand theft and the other was an out-of-state warrant for armed robbery. His bond was set at $610,024, and he was scheduled to return to court on Sept. 29. The charges are allegations, and White is presumed innocent unless convicted. No charging decision regarding the homeowner has been reported, and that final call belongs to prosecutors.
