An 18-year-old is in stable condition after an officer shot him during a pursuit Monday morning on the city’s Westside, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office says.

Police say they were pursuing the teen, Cerry Banks, after the mother of a 13-year-old girl had confronted him about “an inappropriate text relationship” he was having with her daughter, police said.

After the girl’s mother discovered the communication on Sunday, she took her daughter’s cell phone and started talking with him, pretending to be her daughter, JSO Chief Alan Parker said. She set up a meeting with Banks at the Popeye’s restaurant just south of I-10 on McDuff Avenue South, Parker said, with the intention of confronting him.

When the mother showed up with her daughter and an 11-year-old son, Banks showed them that he had a gun in his belt, Parker said. The woman and her children fled into the Popeye’s and called police, who found Banks behind the restaurant, Parker said.

“He takes off running behind the back of the business. The officer takes off in a foot pursuit,” Parker said. “As he hits the corner, he sees the suspect pull the pistol from his waistband; he yells for him, ‘Stop, drop, gun, gun, gun!,’ engages suspect and shoots multiple times. The suspect continues around neighboring business, and drops the gun. He continues running.” 

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Officers found Banks hiding in a nearby culvert, Parker said. His gun was found at the scene. He was treated for gunshot wounds to a hand, leg and chest, police say. The teen has been charged with two counts of aggravated assault, according to his jail record.

Police recommend that any parent who learns that their child is involved in an inappropriate relationship with an adult should contact them rather than confront the person.

“Absolutely, we would like for parents to let us handle these situations,” said Sheriff T. K. Waters, who was at Monday’s scene. “But listen, it is protective in nature, and moms and dads will do what they want to do to protect their kids, and we can’t really blame them for doing that. But we do ask to allow us to make sure that we take care of situations like this.”

The officer who fired is seven-year police veteran Garrion Robinson, and this is his first shooting, Parker said.

This is JSO’s seventh officer-involved shooting so far this year. The last one was on Oct. 28, when officers killed a man who was attacking a carjacking victim with a knife, which turned out to be a butter knife, police say.