JACKSONVILLE, Fla — A 14-hour SWAT standoff in Jacksonville ended with an arrest and no injuries. Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office says they were called to a home in Mandarin after neighbors reported shots fired Monday afternoon.
JSO says an officer saw a man firing a shotgun and two neighbors reported something striking their home. Police got an arrest warrant for Ryan Taylor, but that is when they say Taylor refused to come out leading to a long standoff.
JSO documents obtained by First Coast News Tuesday morning show Taylor has a history with JSO officers.
According to JSO reports, Taylor is a Navy veteran who suffers from PTSD and other mental illness. Police have documented times where Taylor has been vocal about suicidal ideation and has other weapons-related charges in the past.
Police are also familiar with his home because they’ve been working on a risk protection order. That’s an order than prevents someone from legally owning firearms or ammunition. A temporary order was issued last week and a hearing on the matter was scheduled for Tuesday morning.
Neighbors were displaced for hours during the standoff, with little to no information.
“You’ve never missed home so much until you couldn’t get to it," said Becky Joiner, Taylor's neighbor.
Overnight, the SWAT team could be heard asking Taylor to come outside, eventually firing tear gas multiple times. Neighbors were understandably shocked, but say JSO has had a presence here for a week or so keeping watch on Taylor’s home.
“(They) told us there was no real danger to our house, to our neighborhood, to our kids," Joiner recalls. "That it was just for his own protection that they were just keeping an eye on him to make sure everybody was okay. They were basically putting it off as a welfare check.”
Police were monitoring the area after a risk protection order was filed last week. Documents show JSO filed the request.
An earlier request was filed in 2019, but later dismissed.
This situation opens up the conversation of mental health for veterans. Nick Howland with The Fire Watch runs an organization working to prevent veteran suicide.
“The risk factors for veterans and veteran suicide are the same for civilians in suicide," Howland said. "It’s isolation. It’s disconnectedness. It’s undiagnosed mental illness. If you think about veterans, a lot of those issues are exacerbated.”
Howland says it takes just one person reaching out to help a veteran who is struggling to potentially save a life.
Howland says veterans die by suicide at a rate 1.5 times that of civilians. For information on where to find help or how to get help, go to TheFireWatch.org.
Taylor is charged with firing a weapon in a residential area and two counts of aggravated assault due to the bullets hitting two homes. JSO says they are going to process the risk protection order on Tuesday.
Each of the charges are set at a $50,003 bond. If bonded out Taylor must wear a GPS monitor and stay 250 feet away from both victims.
His next court date is scheduled for Feb. 10.
We have asked JSO about whether Taylor will get a mental evaluation when he is booked in jail. We are waiting for a response.