Collection of Articles about Police Officers Killed by Semi- Automatic ...

side by a suspected bank robber. After a four hour stand-off with police the shooter
learned of Officer Marreros death and then took his own life.
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- At least one bank robber fatally shot a police officer and wounded
another during a chase Friday before holding police at bay for four hours at a nearby
apartment complex.
The standoff, which began moments after officer Lois M. Marrero was killed, ended after
a suspect fatally shot himself, city Police Chief Bennie Holder said. Two other people
were taken into custody shortly before 3 p.m. EDT, as police tried to determine if they
were hostages or participants.
Witnesses said Marrero, 41, a 19-year-veteran of the department who was struck three
times, was shot as she approached the gunman.
"He ambushed her, she didn't have a chance," said Daniel Tatum, a salesman at a
nearby auto dealership who said he was driving down the street when the shooting
began.
"He ran into the court yard, she started in behind him and when she came up behind the
car he started shooting."
The wounded officer, whose name has not been released, was grazed in the leg. The
officer was taken to Tampa General Hospital where information on the officer's condition
was not immediately available.
Holder said the dead suspect, Nester Luis DeJesus, had a long criminal history, but did
not have specifics. DeJesus lived in the complex, but not in the apartment where the
standoff occurred.
Holder said police were trying to determine the identities of the man and the woman
who were also in the apartment and whether they were participants or hostages.
The standoff at The Crossing apartments began about 11 a.m. EDT, shortly after police
were notified of a robbery at a Bank of America just blocks from the apartment complex.
One shot was fired in the bank, but no one was hit, Holder said.
Holder said officers were searching for the suspects when they spotted their car and
then radioed to say they were chasing them.
"Sometime during that pursuit there was an exchange of gunfire between the suspect
and three of my officers," Holder said.
Resident Karen Breit said Marrero remained in the parking lot for some time as the
suspect stormed an apartment, preventing other officers from reaching her.
"This scares me. This guy could have come into any one of our houses," Breit said.
Officers cleared the streets surrounding the apartment complex and helped some
residents of second-story apartments escape by ladder. Other residents were told to
stay put as the electricity to the complex was shut off.
Marrero's death is the first for the Tampa department since the deadly 1998 rampage by
Hank Earl Carr that took the lives of Detectives Randy Bell and Ricky Childers.
Carr fatally shot the officers when they took him into custody for the shooting death of
his girlfriend's 4-year-old son. Carr fled and killed Florida Highway Patrol Trooper James
Crooks before killing himself.
Within hours of Marrero's shooting, the flag outside the police department headquarters
was lowered to half-staff.