JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The damage left behind from a drug bust operation Thursday includes a knocked-over light and a line of cars that were damaged during the bust.
People living at the Mayfair Village Apartments, where the operation took place, said the bust unfolded with children playing just a few yards away.
Tiwana Kirkland said her car was totaled during the drug bust.
“It was just a whole mess out here,” Kirkland said.
The most upsetting thing to Kirkland was the fact that children were playing in a grassy area at the time officers began chasing the suspect in the drug bust, Vito Larosa, who was shot and killed by police.
“The officer was up on the grass and there was no regard for the children – (they) just came straight through the kids,” Kirkland said. “The kids were no older than maybe 10 years old.”
Another woman, who asked to remain anonymous, said she saw more than a dozen children playing.
“(There were) about 15 or 16. They were out here playing football,” she said. “My grandbaby was out here – hell, I was out here watching him.”
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office was unable to provide information on who was outside during the pursuit because it is still under investigation. JSO officials said officers ended up at the apartment complex because the suspect led them there.
“The suspect dictates the location of these drug transactions. We are out there dealing in their world and they dictate their locations,” a JSO official said.
JSO said no officers fired any bullets in the complex.
WJAX
