BREAKING NEWS: Suspect apprehended by Winter Park police after shooting off of Orange Avenue

What started as a shoplifting incident at the Goodwill Boutique location off Orange Avenue in Winter Park turned into an almost deadly shooting Monday, Sept. 17, as officers apprehended a suspect who shot a man and fired at two police officers.

Winter Park police arrested 19-year-old suspect Jerad Christopher Vasquez following an hours-long manhunt that had the 900 block of Orange Avenue blocked off.

Officers responded to a call at around 2:41 p.m. in reference to a shoplifting incident at the Goodwill location at 750 Orange Ave. Police arrived at the scene and made contact with three suspects while observing a fourth suspect — Vasquez — fleeing from the scene and heading eastbound along Orange Avenue, according to the Winter Park police report.

Moments later, an officer in an unmarked patrol car spotted Vasquez in the 900 block of Orange Avenue, and witnessed him shoot a male victim along Orange Avenue who was running after him following the shoplifting. Vasquez then shot at the officer in her unmarked police car, hitting the windshield twice and the hood once, before fleeing north toward Aragon Avenue.

The shooting victim sustained an injury that was not life-threatening and was transported to Orlando Regional Medical Center, according to the police report.

Another officer approached Vasquez with his gun drawn at the 900 block of Orange Avenue. Gunfire was exchanged between the officer and Vasquez, who fled the scene once more.

“At approximately (4:27 p.m.), Winter Park Police Department Communications Division advised that they were contacted by a woman claiming to be the mother of defendant Jerad Christopher Vasquez, who advised that she received a message from her son, who stated he was ‘surrounded by cops and hiding,’” the police report states. “In additional messages received from him, he stated that he ‘was not going to jail,’ and that he was ‘scared,’ and he asked his mother to come get him, and advised that he was on Orange Avenue.”

Using a screenshot sent to Vasquez’s mother showing his location, officers were able to pinpoint the suspect’s location outside the Full Circle Yoga at 972 N. Orange Ave.

Vasquez was arrested while violently resisting and taken into custody that evening at about 9:20 p.m.

No officers were injured, according to a Facebook post by the department.

Vasquez faces numerous charges, including two counts of attempted murder of a police officer, one count of attempted murder, two counts of resisting an officer with violence, one count of petit theft, and one count of shooting into a dwelling, structure or vehicle, according to the police report.

The search for the shooter prompted Rollins College to go under lockdown for just over an hour starting at about 3:50 p.m.