Sawgrass Village is the scene of a shootout with the driver of a stolen truck

Historic City News followed a breaking story this afternoon in Ponte Vedra Beach after an unidentified white man in his 20’s reportedly opened fire on a deputy sheriff who spotted him driving a pickup truck that is said to have been stolen from the Lewistown Pennsylvania area earlier this week.

The deputy who has not been identified, performed a traffic stop on the Toyota Tundra pickup truck in the parking lot of Publix in the Sawgrass Village Shopping Center on SR-A1A in Ponte Vedra Beach about 12:45 Wednesday.

During an impromptu press conference where Sheriff Shoar was flanked by Undersheriff Cline and his contract media intermediary Chuck Mulligan, it was explained that the deputy made the stop and approached the truck. Shoar said the driver rolled out of the vehicle armed with a shotgun.  The gunman fired the shotgun in the deputy’s direction; but, apparently, the shots did not strike the deputy.

The driver, however, may have been mortally wounded in the hail of gunfire that was returned.  Shoar left room for doubt that the driver, who locked himself inside the truck and was extricated by SWAT deputies, may have suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound. No deputies or civilians were reported injured.

“It was a very rapid type incident,” Shoar said. “We’re not sure if the gunman’s injury was from us, or if it was a self-inflicted wound.”

An investigation into what Shoar described as “the back-story” is underway.  We have requested additional documents from the sheriff’s department and will update this story when they are received.