Suspect in officer’s killing goes to hospital, then jail

Orlando police Lt. Debra Clayton’s nephew drove by the Carver Shores home dozens of times in the past week while on the way to his grandmother’s house to grieve Clayton’s death.

What he didn’t know is that the man accused of killing his aunt, Markeith Demangzlo Loyd, was hiding inside the abandoned one-story home at 1157 Lescot Lane.

“It was just unbelievable that he was right here,” Jarvis Grant, 22, said Wednesday. “I drove past this house a thousand times. I think I probably drove ... [by] about 30 or 40 times since everything happened. I never thought about it because nobody lived here. I just never thought he would be this close.”

Loyd, 41, was taken to the Orange County Jail in a corrections van on Wednesday evening after spending most of the day at Orlando Regional Medical Center receiving treatment.

About a dozen people crowded outside the hospital to watch Loyd get loaded into the van.

Peter Palmer, 55, and his wife, Audrey, waited for about two hours so they could shout “murderer” when Loyd was hauled away. He and his wife watched the story play out in the news, so they headed to the hospital after they saw he was going to be discharged.

A law enforcement official, who did not want to be identified, said Loyd had undergone at least one surgery at ORMC. When he was taken into custody Tuesday night, Loyd’s face was bloodied, and his eyes and lips were swollen. The injury to his left eye suffered during his arrest could leave him blind in that eye, the official said.

Florida Department of Law Enforcement spokeswoman Angela Starke said the agency only investigates incidents of deadly force used by law enforcement officers and hasn’t been asked to look into Loyd’s injuries.

Loyd is expected to make his first appearance on Thursday morning, when he will hear charges related to the death of his pregnant ex-girlfriend. He is expected to face additional charges in Clayton’s death. Those hadn’t been announced as of Wednesday afternoon.

In a television interview Wednesday night, Orlando Police Chief John Mina said authorities are in “no rush” to charge Loyd in Clayton’s death and are working with the state attorney’s office to make sure their case is “rock solid.”

Mina told HLN’s Ashleigh Banfield that the charges could be announced by the end of this week.

He also offered new details in Clayton’s killing, saying she tried to find cover as she and Loyd exchanged gunfire Jan. 9 in the parking lot of the Wal-Mart on Princeton Street near John Young Parkway.

After she was hit and fell to the ground, Loyd stood over her and shot her multiple times “execution-style,” Mina said in the interview.

He said those gunshots were the ones that killed Clayton.