The Hillsborough County (FL) Sheriff’s Office is looking for a suspect who fired at one of their sheriff’s deputies early Sunday morning.

Sheriff Chad Chronister told WFLA the deputy was on patrol in a high crime area and spotted a car he thought might be stolen.

“We had a very proactive deputy in a crime area where, in a crime area where there had been some stolen cars and some crime and he took it on himself to start circulating some of the apartment complexes looking for people breaking into cars or possible steal a car. Diligent deputy, knows that something is wrong, does the traffic stop, does a wonderful job of being patient and waiting for backup. Next thing he knows, the driver puts his arm out the window and just fires eight rounds towards him and by the grace of God, none of them struck him,” said Chronister.

The sheriff says the deputy returned fire but was concerned he might hit an innocent person in the car or in one of the surrounding apartments. The suspect left the area, but deputies recovered his car a short distance away.