‘He wasn’t himself:’ Man who ambushed FHP trooper might’ve had mental break, mom says

A 20-year-old Miramar man has been identified as the gunman who suddenly ambushed a Florida Highway Patrol trooper sitting inside his patrol car more than a week ago. The trooper was not hurt, returned fire and critically wounded the attacker — all as motorists on the busy street near Aventura watched in horror.

More than a week later, why Javon Jones stopped his car and opened fire remains a mystery.

Jones had no criminal history, with just a couple traffic tickets on his record. He graduated from Norland High, played video games and basketball, exercised often and was waiting to hear back from UPS about a job delivering packages.

“He’s not a violent person at all,” said mother, Joyce Horn, speaking publicly for the first time. She added: “My son is not an animal.”

She described Jones as a mild-mannered young man who still lived at home and harbored no ill will toward police officers. “He’s never been been in trouble with the law,” Horn said.

But Jones, who remains unable to speak in critical condition at the hospital, might have suffered a mental breakdown, she said. In recent months, Jones had begun talking to her “about the universe” and “opening up his third eye,” she said.

“He wasn’t himself,” Horn said. “Something got into him.”

His prognosis, according to his mother is not good. Jones suffered a stroke Thursday and is brain dead, Horn said. “It’s not good,” she said.

On the morning of Feb. 3, Horn said, he left the family’s Miramar home to go jogging or work out.

It was around 2 p.m. when, driving a white Nissan, he abruptly stopped and in front of a trooper who was guarding a lane closure for a roadway project on Miami Gardens Drive just west of

Biscayne Boulevard. He got out, walked up to the car and opened fire, according to FHP Lt. Alejandro Camacho said.

“For unknown reasons. It almost seems like the trooper was targeted. It was like an ambush,” Camacho said last week.

The trooper’s car was shot up but he was not hit. He returned fire and hit Jones, who was rushed to Aventura Hospital.

FHP declined to comment on Thursday evening. The agency has yet to identify the trooper.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the shooting, along with the MiamiDade State Attorney’s Office.

The attack happened one day after two FBI agents were fatally shot and three others wounded as they attempted to serve a search warrant on a child-porn suspect in Sunrise. The gunman, who fired from inside his house, was identified Wednesday as David Lee Huber.

Horn, one of three siblings, will face criminal charges if he pulls through.