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Witness said Altamonte police chase suspect offered to pay her to hide him

ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. — Law enforcement officers said they responded to shots being fired in Altamonte Springs on Jackson Street on Friday.

Deputies with the Seminole County Sheriff's Office said the suspect, Nicholas Joy, first fired some shots near Pine and Jackson streets before leading deputies down Oxford Avenue.

WFTV learned Joy, 29, was going 60 mph and then lost control and crashed into some woods along Carolwood Boulevard. Joy then took off running, ditching a gun along the way, investigators said.

A few minutes after the crash, a nearby resident texted her neighbor to get police while the suspect was trying to pay her to let him into her home.

Jeni Kellom said she was just about to take her dog out when she ran into Joy on her back porch.

“I was like, ‘You should go,’” Kellom said. “And he was like, ‘Well, can I come into your house?’ And I was like, ‘No, I can't let you in my house.’”

Kellom said Joy, a convicted felon, offered her a few hundred dollars to let him in, saying he didn't want to get in trouble for the drugs in his car.

“I'm like, ‘No, I don't need your money,’” Kellom said.

While Joy was sitting on her back porch, negotiating with her, Kellom’s neighbor texted a warning that a suspect on the loose nearby. Kellom texted back and said the suspect was at her house, so the neighbor called police, who came with guns drawn.

Joy surrendered without a fight, authorities said.

Joy has been jailed without bond.