Clearwater Police detectives are investigating a carjacking that occurred late this morning outside Home Depot.
The crime occurred just after 11 a.m. when the suspect went into the store, located at 2495 Gulf-to Bay Blvd., and stole a hammer.
He then went outside and tried to carjack a truck in the contractor loading zone, threatening two men with the hammer.
When that was unsuccessful after a physical confrontation, he then went to the parking lot and climbed into the driver’s seat of another truck and threatened the passenger at hammer-point. That 17 year-old passenger was in fear of being attacked and left the vehicle.
The suspect then took off in the 2007 silver Dodge 3500 Megacab truck, headed east on the Courtney Campbell Causeway and into Tampa. The owner of the stolen truck is Robert Brown of Seffner.
Shane Michael Boisseaux Jensen, age 22 of Largo, has been identified as the man who carjacked a 2007 silver Dodge Ram on Wednesday morning at the Home Depot located at 2495 Gulf-to-Bay Blvd. He threatened a passenger in the parked truck with a hammer before fleeing in the vehicle into Hillsborough County. He had tried to carjack another truck at Home Depot seconds earlier, but was unsuccessful.
Late Thursday evening, Largo Police announced that Jensen was taken into custody after an incident involving the Florida Highway Patrol this afternoon in Okeechobee and Osceola counties.
Just after 4:00 pm on Thursday, a trooper stopped out with a pedestrian that appeared to be medically distressed, along the Florida Turnpike, in Okeechobee County. Jensen was incoherent when the trooper began talking with him, on the northbound shoulder at MM 181. The Florida Highway Patrol had received a call the previous day about a male pedestrian walking in the area but were unable to locate anyone. The trooper immediately called dispatch, for paramedics to respond for a medical evaluation of Mr. Jensen. Mr. Jensen was sitting on the grass shoulder, next to the trooper’s marked FHP unit, as a road ranger stopped behind the trooper. The trooper walked back to the road ranger to retrieve water for the apparently dehydrated Jensen. The pedestrian got up and entered the patrol car and drove northbound on the Turnpike. Troopers stopped Mr. Jenson, in the now stolen 2013 FHP Dodge Charger. The troopers exited their vehicles to apprehend the suspect. The suspect reversed the vehicle and accelerated towards three troopers in an attempt to run them over, fleeing the traffic stop.
As the vehicle entered Osceola County, the Osceola Sheriff’s Office assisted FHP by deploying stop sticks in the northbound lanes of the Turnpike, at MM 192.
The suspect avoided the stop sticks and entered the grass median, where he came to a stop, against the guardrail. The suspect exited the vehicle and fled into the woods. He was arrested by FHP and transported to the hospital for treatment. Mr. Jensen has been charged with stealing the patrol car and reckless driving, out of Okeechobee County. Additional charges are pending.
There were no crashes and no troopers or civilians were injured in this incident.
He was being medically checked out at a hospital in Okeechobee County before being taken to jail.
The stolen truck in was located by FHP on the Florida Turnpike near Vero Beach.
Jensen was previously arrested Monday afternoon at the Long Center, 1501 N. Belcher Road, after he broke out the windows of a car there. He was employed as a variable lifeguard at the recreation center before that arrest; the car he vandalized belonged to his supervisor. A variable lifeguard is neither a part-time or full-time employee; he or she works varying hours depending on the needs.
In that incident, he was charged with felony criminal mischief, resisting arrest with violence, battery on a law enforcement officer and possession of marijuana. He was released on bond from the Pinellas County Jail on Tuesday; the Home Depot crime took place the next day.
He was terminated from his position with the city of Clearwater after his arrest.