‘We will find you’: TPD offers reward in search for suspects after officer is shot, hospitalized
TPD is offering a $10,000 reward for information aiding in the three suspects’ arrests
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) - Tallahassee Police are searching for three suspects after one of their own was hospitalized Monday morning after being shot during an overnight home burglary investigation.
The injured officer was transported to a local hospital with serious injuries and taken immediately into surgery. TPD said he is in critical but stable condition.
Police say they are looking for three suspects in connection to the shooting. TPD Chief Lawrence Revell said a $10,000 reward is available for information that can help aid in those suspects’ arrests and convictions.
Revell described the suspects in a press conference Monday morning as three Black males. One was wearing a black hoodie and one was wearing a white T-shirt and jeans, he said, but he noted that shirt was left on the scene and those involved may have changed clothes.
The police chief addressed the perpetrators on the lam directly in that conference.
The shooting Monday was the first time a Tallahassee Police officer has been shot on the job in more than two decades, according to Revell. TPD Sergeant Dale Green was fatally shot during a home invasion in 2002.
All officers involved in the shooting have been placed on administrative leave while the investigation is underway, per department policy, according to TPD.
Timeline of events
The officer was shot in the early morning hours Monday.
Dispatchers sent units to the 2300 block of Sandpiper Street around 2:30 a.m. after receiving word of a residential burglary involving multiple armed suspects, TPD said in a press release. But investigators later determined that the responding law enforcement actually interrupted a “targeted home invasion drug-related robbery,” according to Revell.
Officers spotted a suspect matching the description of the 911 call fleeing the scene and began pursuing him on foot, according to the press release. They called out, telling him to stop, but the suspect kept going, according to the statement.
Another suspect then came out of the residence and started shooting. He hit one of the officers, TPD said.
TPD: Check your doorbell cameras
The shooting took place in a residential area on the northwest end of the capital city. Police are reaching out to the public in that area for help with the investigation.
The main ask, TPD said, is to look for recordings of the incident. Authorities encouraged Sandpiper Street residents and others in the neighborhood to check their Ring doorbell cameras from Monday between 1 a.m. and 4 a.m. for “any suspicious people or vehicles.”
Residents can share footage with investigators through the Ring Neighbors Public Safety Service by clicking here.
Law enforcement asked citizens in the Sandpiper Street, Meriadoc Road and Tharpe Street areas to stay indoors for hours Monday as authorities investigated the scene overnight and well into the morning.
The investigation into the shooting is ongoing, according to TPD.
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