Authorities are searching for an ex-Marine suspected of shooting a Nassau County Sheriff’s deputy during a Friday night traffic stop after the officer died of his wounds on Sunday. Sheriff Bill Leeper described Patrick McDowell as armed and extremely dangerous, saying, “If you are in a home and he breaks in your home and you have a gun, blow him out the door. Because he’s a rabid animal. He will kill you.”
McDowell, 35, was a Marine from 2005 to 2013. He suffers from depression, seizures, and PTSD, and has multiple prior arrests for drug possession, burglary, theft, property damage, and forgery. The sheriff said that the suspect was pulled over by Deputy Joshua Moyers after “something” seemed off about his vehicle. McDowell gave Moyers a fake name and shot him twice after being asked to step out of what turned out to be a stolen car. The manhunt, made up of 300 local, state, and federal agents, will sweep a 300,000-acre area near Jacksonville, where McDowell is believed to be hiding.
