TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (TheBlaze/AP) — A gunman who fatally ambushed a Florida sheriff's deputy Saturday after setting his own house on fire had made previous threats against police officers and an alert about him had been issued, a law enforcement official said.
Two members of the Tallahassee Police Department on the scene where man set his house on fire and then fatally shot a sheriff's deputy and wounded another responding to the scene, Saturday, Nov. 22, 2014, in Tallahassee, Fla. (Image source: AP/Tallahassee Democrat, Joe Rondone)
The official told The Associated Press that the dispatcher who took the call about the fire entered a neighbor's address, not the gunman's, so the computer alert wasn't activated and the slain deputy had no warning.
The gunman shot the deputy from behind, the official said, and picked up the deputy's gun and then tried unsuccessfully to remove locked weapons from the deputy's car.
The gunman shot a second deputy, who was saved by his bullet-proof vest. A Tallahassee police officer who lives nearby heard the gunfire, ran outside and shot the gunman dead.
The law enforcement official spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk about the case.
WSVN-TV - 7NEWS Miami Ft. Lauderdale News, Weather, Deco
