Orange Park Homeowner Shoots Fleeing Suspect Hiding In Grafton Drive Garage

A wild chase that began with a stolen car sighting on Blanding Boulevard ended with a homeowner shooting one of the fleeing suspects inside his own garage on Grafton Drive. Clay County Sheriff Michelle Cook says deputies located the stolen vehicle at Blanding Boulevard and Camp Francis Johnson Road, triggering a pursuit that ended in multiple crashes, a foot chase through backyards, and gunfire in a residential neighborhood near the Meadow Drive and Grafton Drive area.

According to Clay County Sheriff's Office, deputies received an automated license plate reader hit alerting them to the stolen car before locating it. Once spotted, two suspects fled the vehicle and crashed into two patrol cars and a citizen's car during the pursuit, though no one was injured in the collisions, per Sheriff Cook. The pair then bolted in opposite directions along Blanding Boulevard, splitting up the search for deputies on the ground.

As reported by WJXT News4JAX, the driver of the stolen white Volkswagen was identified as 34-year-old William White, who had active warrants out for grand theft and armed robbery. The passenger was identified as 32-year-old Amanda Strickland. The station's report indicates White's outstanding warrants may help explain why he ran rather than stopped for deputies.

Suspect Cornered Inside Occupied Home's Garage

The female suspect was caught within minutes of the foot chase beginning, according to Sheriff Cook. White, however, made his way through neighborhood backyards before entering a detached garage belonging to a resident on Grafton Drive. The station's report notes that both the homeowner and his wife were inside their house at the time White entered the structure.

The homeowner confronted White in the garage and shot him once in the leg, per the same account. Deputies arriving on scene rendered first aid to White before he was taken to a local hospital for treatment. Florida Statute § 776.013 holds that a person inside a dwelling or attached structure where they have a right to be carries no duty to retreat and is presumed to have held a reasonable fear of imminent peril when using defensive force against someone unlawfully entering that structure.

How the Chase Started

The stolen-vehicle alert that set the chase in motion traces back to Clay County's investment in automated surveillance. In October 2023, the sheriff's office signed a five-year, $1.3 million contract with Flock Safety to install 95 automated license plate reader cameras countywide, according to Clay News & Views. Those camera hits feed into the agency's Real-Time Crime Center, which the sheriff's office has said aggregates ALPR data, dispatch feeds, and local app alerts to direct deputies toward stolen vehicles in real time.

The density of that camera network along corridors like Blanding Boulevard has drawn attention beyond this incident. In January, the Orange Park Town Council debated adding its own Flock Safety cameras within town limits, noting that county law enforcement already maintained more than 90 ALPR cameras on surrounding roads, per Clay News & Views.

No Outstanding Suspects, Investigation Continues

Sheriff Cook says the investigation has no outstanding suspects, with both White and Strickland now in custody or hospitalized. Even so, the sheriff's office says the investigation remains ongoing and is encouraging anyone with information that could assist to come forward. Tips can be submitted through the SaferWatch app, by contacting the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office at 904-264-6512, or by reaching First Coast Crime Stoppers, the regional tip hotline covering Clay, Duval, and surrounding counties, at **TIPS.

Sheriff Cook took office in September 2020 as the first woman to lead the Clay County Sheriff's Office and won re-election to a full four-year term in November 2024. She previously spent more than 25 years with the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office and served as Atlantic Beach Police Chief. This is not the first time she has briefed the public after a Clay County homeowner used force against an intruder; in a deadly Pine Oaks Lane shootout last September, a home intrusion left two people dead, including the armed intruder.

The Grafton Drive shooting also comes just six weeks after Clay County deputies were involved in a separate shooting on Blanding Boulevard following a standoff that left a suspect hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries, a reminder of how frequently that corridor has drawn law enforcement activity this year. Open questions remain about what specific charges White and Strickland will ultimately face beyond White's existing warrants, and whether the State Attorney's Office will conduct a standard self-defense immunity review of the homeowner's decision to fire his weapon.