Cop, deputy shootings concern local leaders

At least 12 law enforcement officers fired upon so far in 2017

It’s been a particularly dangerous year so far for cops in Central Florida.

At least 12 Central Florida law enforcement officers have been shot or shot at in the first two months of this year, including 10 in the past week, leaving one dead and three injured.

While the number of officers fatally shot nationwide has generally been on decline over the past 40 years, it took a sharp upturn last year, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund. There were 64 deaths — up from 38 in 2015.

Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings said the shootings have been “sickening.”

“From my perspective, while the job has always been a risky and dangerous job, it is as risky and dangerous as it has ever been,” he said.

The violence began just nine days into the new year, when Orlando Police Lt. Debra Clayton was fatally shot while confronting murder suspect Markeith Loyd at

a Wal-Mart at Princeton Street and John Young Parkway.

In the ensuing manhunt, Loyd fired two rounds investigators say missed Orange County sheriff’s Capt. Joe Carter.

Then on Feb. 23, Orlando Police Officer Craig Adler responded to a man shooting a BB gun at people at the same Wal-Mart where Clayton was killed.

When Adler confronted the suspect, Alexander Marcel Proctor, 26, he started shooting the BB gun at the officer, investigators said. Adler returned fire, striking Proctor, who survived. Adler wasn’t hurt.

Early Saturday, Casselberry police officers responded to a man who called 911 to say he had beaten his wife and was planning to hurt others.

When the officers walked up to his home, James Lee Parran opened up fire with a shotgun, police said. Shotgun pellets struck Officer Ryan McIntosh and Cpl. Adam Phillips, who were not seriously injured. McIntosh and Phillips, along with two other officers, returned fire, and Parran was found dead inside the home.

The latest shooting was Tuesday. Orange County sheriff’s Sgt. Richard Stelter was part of a team of deputies serving a robbery warrant on Christopher Redding Jr. at Savannah at Park Central apartments.

Deputies say Redding started firing at the group of five deputies and hit Stelter several times. Redding was killed in the shootout with deputies.

Stelter was released from the hospital Wednesday.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement reports that the number of officers shot at has remained flat for five years. In 2015, the most recent year for which numbers are available, the total was 220. Of those, 28 were injured and one was killed.

The number of officers nationwide who were injured by gunfire fluctuated from 2011 to 2015. In 2015, 2,018 officers were hurt, about 10 percent fewer than in 2011, when the total was 2,240.

The reasons for the violence varies, but Orlando Police Chief John Mina said two of the Central Florida shootings happened while officers were trying to arrest people wanted for serious crimes.

“When we’re going to arrest a violent felon, those are some of the most dangerous calls we can go on,” he said.

Mina also said police are responding to more people who are in crisis and may be suffering from mental illness. Orlando police are also collecting more illegal guns. Officers confiscated more nearly 700 guns last year and about 70 in January, he said.

Domestic-violence calls — such as the one where two Casselberry officers were shot last weekend — also can be potentially violent, Mina said.

“There are just evil people out there,” said Mina. “I tell our new officers that they have to realize they’re out there even though they’re a very small segment of the population.”

Unlike police shootings in Dallas and Louisiana that left eight officers dead within a 10-day span in July, the recent shootings in Central Florida did not involve ambushes by people disgruntled with police.

Demings said another reason there are more shootings of law officers is that young people are being introduced to violent video games and movies and coming from unstable environments.

Jacinta Gau, associate professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Central Florida, said it’s a little early in the year to identify any trends. The shootings are unrelated and could be a fluke, she said.

Violence is lower than it was in the 1990s, when crime was at its peak.

“If you look at officer-on-duty rates of death, it goes up and down,” she said. “It fluctuates like crime rates in general.”

Gau echoed Demings’ belief that guns are getting into the hands of people who shouldn’t have them. Loyd and Redding were convicted felons and by law were prohibited from possessing firearms.

“One of the things I would say about this is, ‘How are these people getting guns?’ ” she said. “Clearly, the arsenal that Markeith Loyd had was pretty scary. Are [guns] somehow more readily available on the black market?”

Many guns tied to crimes are stolen, she said. Sometimes owners fail to properly store them, she added.

As far as prevention of violence, Demings said it includes a positive home environment for youth, social programs to get them on the right track as well as proper law enforcement and prosecution.

“To me, the solution is to create a win-win situation for human beings to make better choices,” he said. “[With prevention], when confronted with making a decision, they can make the appropriate one.”