A Florida woman was arrested Tuesday night after exchanging gunfire with two state troopers, one of whom she had approached on the side of a road in Pensacola as the officer investigated an unrelated car crash.
No one was wounded during the shootout between the unidentified woman and two Florida Highway Patrol deputies whose names were also withheld.
The woman was only partially clothed when she walked up to one of the state troopers at Ten Mile and Chemstrand roads in Escambia County shortly before 6 p.m., saying “she was in an overdose situation,” the Pensacola News Journal reported.
The trooper, who was wrapping up a separate crash scene, became momentarily distracted as he radioed for medical help and found the woman had wandered off toward a nearby work shed.
“The trooper followed to make sure that she didn’t hurt herself, pass out or anything like that and partially lost sight of her briefly,” said Florida Highway Patrol spokesperson Lt. Jason King.
The woman was then found to have entered a stranger’s pickup truck that was parked in a driveway, reports said.
Inside the truck, the woman pointed a gun at the trooper and fired, King said. By that time, another trooper had arrived, and at least one of the officers returned fire, although it was unclear whether both had used their service weapons.
It also remains unclear how many gunshots were fired.
Police have not said yet whether the woman had the gun on her before the incident or if she found it in the truck.
Eventually the officers were able to make an arrest.
The woman was hospitalized for evaluation and now could face potential felony charges, including discharging a weapon at law enforcement, drug possession, public intoxication and burglary for entering the pickup truck, King said.
The troopers will be placed on “at least three days of administrative leave for mental health purposes,” he added.
Elsewhere, in an unrelated traffic stop earlier this month, a 31-year-old Black woman was killed after she shot and wounded a Nashville, Tennessee, police officer during an exchange of gunfire in a Dollar General parking lot. Police had pulled over Nika Nicole Holbert after finding the car’s owner, which was not her, had six outstanding drug warrants.
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