Posted on 06/29/2010 7:49:32 AM PDT by DCBryan1
TAMPA — Two Tampa police officers were killed Tuesday after being shot during a traffic stop, police said.
A massive search for two suspects was launched as the city reeled from the second fatal police shooting in less than a year.
The shooting suspect, the passenger in the car, already was wanted on an outstanding warrant, police said.
Officers Jeffrey Kocab and David Curtis, both 31, were shot in the head at 50th Street and 23rd Avenue, said Mayor Pam Iorio after a news conference.
Kocab died at Tampa General Hospital. Curtis died several hours later, according to police.
Curtis' family has chosen to keep his body on life support so his organs can be harvested, police said.
Curtis pulled the car over at 2:15 a.m. because it did not have a visible tag, police said, and soon discovered that one of the occupants was wanted on an arrest warrant for a worthless check out of Jacksonville.
Kocab was called for backup before the shooting occurred, which police said is standard procedure when someone is found to be wanted.
Neighbors said they heard shots fired and heard the vehicle peel off. The shooting suspect had apparently run through an apartment complex at 3212 N 50th St., said Rose Dodson, 32, a resident there.
Police were combing that area side by side looking for evidence.
Another witness said she heard four or five gunshots. Chris Arline, 49, said she was buying a candy bar at a nearby Shell gas station when she heard the gunfire. Her son thought it was a truck.
"That's not a truck," she said. "That's bullets."
Arline left the store and saw paramedics giving CPR to a person on the ground.
The shooting happened so quickly the officers did not have a chance to radio for help. They were shot at close range, said Police Chief Jane Castor, and it did not appear they had time to return fire.
Curtis ran the driver's licenses of both suspects before the shooting, police said. Police were not sure if the licenses were authentic.
A 911 call six minutes after the car was stopped was the first notice police had that the officers had been shot, police said. A passerby stumbled on the scene and found the officers shot, police said.
Police were looking for a 1994 red Toyota Camry they said was involved in the shooting. The car was stopped at 50th Street and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. The car pulled over at 50th Street and E 23rd Avenue.
Police said the car was driven by a woman and the male passenger fired the gunshots.
The passenger was described as a black man in his mid to late 20s, 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighing 150 to 170 pounds. He had a short afro and was last seen wearing brown shorts and a white T-shirt and a black vest. No description of the woman was released.
Detectives issued an urgent plea for witnesses to step forward. They want to talk to anyone who was in the area of N 50th Street and E 23rd Avenue about 2:15 a.m.
Anyone with information is asked to call (813) 231-6130.
Dozens of police and Hillsborough sheriff's deputies were searching for the suspects.
They set up a perimeter that stretched from MLK to Interstate 4 and 40th to 50th streets. Traffic was blocked in both directions for hours. The northbound lanes were reopened by 7:30 a.m.
Several hours after the shooting, about 100 cadets from the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office dressed in grey formed a line and searched the crime scene for evidence.
Castor said at a second news conference that the suspect's "best bet" is to give himself up.
"We'll take the search nationwide if we need to," Castor said. "We're going to find him."
Kocab leaves behind a wife who is nine months pregnant, Iorio said during a news conference at Tampa General Hospital. Kocab joined the Police Department about 14 months ago from the Plant City Police Department.
Curtis, the officer on life support, has a wife and four young children, Iorio said. A former Hillsborough County jail deputy, he became a Tampa police officer 2006.
Kocab's wife was in Kissimmee, and Curtis' family was in Sumter County.
Curtis has four children: Austin, 9; Sean, 6; Tyler, 5; and Hunter, 8 months.
"We are doing everything we can to help the wives and the family members," Iorio said. "It's just a very bleak day for us in Tampa."
After the news conference Iorio burst into tears when recounting the call she received at 3 a.m. from Police Chief Jane Castor.
"She said 'Mayor, I've got really bad news. We've had two officers shot and one is dead.'"
As soon as she saw it was the chief calling she knew it was bad news, Iorio said. She remembered getting a similar call from now-retired Chief Steve Hogue when Cpl. Mike Roberts was shot and killed last year.
Roberts was shot to death as he stopped to question a homeless man. Humberto Delgado has been charged with first degree murder in that August 2009 shooting.
Iorio said it is "heart-wrenching" to watch relatives and cousins grieve the deaths of Kocab and Curtis.
"It's just been overwhelming grief inside the hospital," she said.
I doubt the profiling concern. He was on probation and didn’t want to go back to ‘the house’.
Do a “Bonnie and Clyde” on both of them.....
I thought that might be the case (organ donation).
Agreed.
“Curtis’ family has chosen to keep his body on life support so his organs can be harvested”.
In this families most tragic hour,
They still take time to think of others.
GOD bless em.
Perhaps so, but I agree. Why has it gotten so hard to find a simple, well written sentence in today's world of online news? I can't imagine what will have happened to our kids’ ability to communicate in writing after another 10 years of texting, IM, etc.
I worked for a major daily newspaper until just a few years ago. The penalty for that kind of headline was severe. People would lose their job if it managed to get into print like that. They had a newsroom newsletter published by the copy editors, called “The Hell Box” and they would show examples of some of the more serious things that almost made it to print. They were also good about handing out kudos for good catches too. There was a monthly prize for the best headline!
NOt to worry Mouton,
This being Florida and not say New York or L.A.
If ya shoot a cop or two here you are not going to be afforded kid glove treatment.
Chances are real good you will not make it to jail.
...soon to be the late Dontae Rashawn Morris and Cortnee Nicole Brantly...
‘I can’t imagine what will have happened to our kids’ ability to communicate in writing after another 10 years of texting’
I’ve been working in post secondary education for the last 35 years and the literacy rate has steadily been in a death spiral for most of that time. Texting is a bad behavior for sure but it starts in our schools and homes. I could rant on about it for hours. Ignorance will destroy us.
One DU`er (so far) is defending the killer.
“The car was stopped at 50th Street and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.”
More proof that nothing good happens after midnight or on a street named for a black historical figure.
I’d like to hear how this one lowlife managed to get the jump on two cops. There are probably a few lessons to be learned from this. Other than don’t let the dumbasses out of jail in the first place, that is.
Prayers for the two officers and their families.
These lowlifes are going to be in a world of hurt soon.
I actually hope they’re used as live bait for shark fishing.
May these brothers RIP. My prayers are for their family and loved ones.
I am a strong and hardened man. I served in the US Army and then 30 years as a LEO, and even I can’t stop the damn tears.
My very unprofessional wish for my brothers... find them, let them know they are going to die.... then kill them.
Two more police murders to add to the MSM total. Until the mid 80’s most police where shot in the chest/body. Since the MSM made such a big deal over police wearing soft body armor, most have been head shots.
One more reason to seek your news from anyone other than nbccbsabc.
Didn’t even need the photos to know what the cop-killers looked like. I know the area - not good. The whole East Tampa area - Nebraska Ave. to 50th Street and 7th Avenue to 33rd Avenue has been an eyesore since the 60’s.
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