Just days after two officers were killed ina shootout with a suspect in Miami-Dade, two officers in St. Petersburg were shot and killed Monday by a suspect who was hiding in an attic.
The officers had come to arrest the suspect on aggravated battery charges when shots rang out around 7 a.m.
The authorities and the fugitive exchanged more than 100 shots at each other during the hours-long standoff that ended when the suspect was found dead inside the home.
St. Petersburg Police spokesman Michael Puetz said the suspect was found dead when officers went into the home Monday afternoon, about six hours after the shootout, the latest in a recent rash of shootings across the nation that have killed or wounded law enforcement officers.
Officials have identified the slain officers as Tom Baitinger and Jeffrey Yaslowitz.
The law enforcement agents came to arrest Hydra Lacy Jr., 39, around 7 a.m. on an aggravated battery charge, and investigators believe he is the one who opened fire on them, Puetz said.
He said Lacy had a long record that includes convictions for armed robbery and sexual battery. He was listed as a sex offender with the state and had failed to register in December with the Pinellas County Sheriff's Department as required.
"He was somebody we wanted to get off the streets, " Police Chief Chuck Harmon said. "Who expects to walk into a house and get gunfire from the attic?"
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The marshal was shot twice but was doing fine, Chief Deputy U.S. Marshal Tom Figmik said.
Initially, one of the officers, the marshal and a Pinellas County Sheriff's deputy arrived at the house and were told by a woman that Lacy was in the attic.
The three called for backup. The officer and the marshal were shot before backup arrived, Puetz said. He said the second officer was later shot as he tried to rescue the wounded men. The deputy and the woman were not hurt.
After the gunfight, authorities had tried to force the gunman out by cutting off the home's electricity and water.
Earlier, police used a vehicle to punch a hole in the wall to get to one of the officers who later died, Puetz said.
Another police spokesman at the scene, Bill Proffitt, said it was possible the suspect used one of the officers' guns during the struggle in the attic.
The home, situated in a middle-class neighborhood on the south side of St. Petersburg, was listed in Lacy's name, according to property records. After the shootout, a Department of Homeland Security armored tactical vehicle was parked nearby, as dozens of law enforcement officers congregated on nearby streets. A police tank was also trained on the home.
Court records show Lacy failed to show for his scheduled trial Nov. 1 on the aggravated battery charge, and an arrest warrant was issued the next day.
State records show Lacy was convicted in 1989 of armed burglary, resisting arrest with violence and other charges. He was released from prison 1991. In 1992, he was convicted of sexual battery with a weapon or force and false imprisonment of a child. He was released in from prison 2001.
Details on those convictions were not immediately available.
The shooting comes just five days after Officers Roger Castillo and Amanda Haworth were killed in a shootout with 22-year-old Johnny Simms as they were attempting to arrest him on murder charges in Liberty City.
The officers were being remembered Monday at a funeral, where news of Monday's shooting added to the grief already palpable among the thousands gathered at American Airlines Arena in downtown Miami.
