Tampa FL Officer Shot and Killed

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Initial information points toward legally obtained guns. This one may be pretty bad for uslaw abiding gun owners.

Some information has beenpresented that Delgado was on his way to a gun free zone (the VA) to shoot the place up.

If Delgado would have shot up a bunch of victims, it would have been bad. Real bad.

Of course, we could have gotten ready to handle the resulting media onslaught onguns and goofy guys with same bygoing on the "attack"first and asking questions like:

"When are people going to get real and prepare for self-defense?"

"At what point are we supposed to feel sympathy for people who refuse to be ready to defend themselves. In this day and age, when the 2nd Amendment is recognized by varying degrees of shall-issue in 44 states (including PA.)"

"Out of [X number of] people shot in the room/facility, NONE thought personal defense important enough to have a gun with them?"

"...come on! After VA Tech, Trolley Square, the church shooting, the college auditorium shooting, and the Nordstroms shooting [and the Collier PA shooting] , these people did not consider self-defense important enough to be armed?"

Citizen, 8/4/09


ThankGod that didn't happen. Roberts may have saved dozens of lives on Wednesday. We just don't know yet.



What we do know is that we have another goof with a gun to explain away. Again.

I'm getting rather PO'd at these GWAGs. They're damaging my rights! :cuss:

There's got to be a way to take their guns away from them so that they don't do shizzit like this...








August 20, 2009

[font="Times New Roman, serif"]Police: Tampa officer fatally shot by heavily armed man (video)[/font]


TAMPA — A seemingly simple conversation with a suspicious person turned into a deadly fight Wednesday night, when police say Corporal Mike Roberts was shot by a man armed with four different guns.

Police say the shooter, Humberto Delgado, Jr., was armed with a total of four guns, including an AR-15 assault rifle he pulled from a canvas bag and pointed at officers who had responded to the area to help Roberts.

Roberts first encountered Delgado on the east side of Nebraska Avenue, about six blocks south of Busch Boulevard, near Central Radiator and Auto Air, investigators said. Delgado had a cane and a shopping cart with multiple items in it.

Roberts got out of his patrol car to talk to Delgado, but the talk soon became a fight, Tampa Police Assistant Chief Jane Castor said.

"At one point, the suspect broke away from the officer and ran down the block but the officer tackled him," added Castor. There, near Nebraska Avenue and Arctic Street, Delgado pulled out a pistol, Castor said.

Castor described what was a "very violent struggle between the suspect and the officer," and said Delgado shot Corporal Roberts once. The bullet entered the officer's chest through his right shoulder -- an area not protected by his bulletproof vest.

"The officer was wearing his bulletproof vest, but the suspect got a [single] shot off that hit him in the arm. The bullet went through the arm and hit him in the chest, missing the vest," Castor said.

When Roberts' supervising sergeant arrived, Castor says Delgado pointed an assault rifle at him. The sergeant ducked behind a dumpster for cover and lost track of the suspect. But witnesses kept watching and were able to direct a K9 unit to Delgado, who gave up in the back yard of a house.

In all, investigators said Delgado was armed with three handguns, an assault rifle, and ammunition. Officers found a receipt showing some of the weapons had been purchased in the area of Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Detectives will not say whether Delgado has a military past.

Police records show Humberto Delgado, Jr. lives in Oldsmar.

The Corporal Mike Roberts died at Tampa General Hospital where he was treated for the gunshot wound. Mayor Pam Iorio and Tampa Police Chief Stephen Hogue were both at the hospital Wednesday night into Thursday.

Flowers, candles, and a photo adorn the fallen officers' memorial in front of Tampa Police headquarters.

Roberts is the first TPD officer to be shot and killed in the line of duty since 2001.

http://news-press.com/article/20090820/NEWS01/90820006

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HankT wrote:

Initial information points toward legally obtained guns. This one may be pretty bad for uslaw abiding gun owners.

Click to expand...

How? The initial reports are that the cop was harassing the ex-cop on Nebraska Avenue, yes, Delgado was previously a cop, and Delgado responded. The questions are still open as to what sort of fear Delgado was under.

I'm glad Delgado was taken alive. Let's all recall Joshua Cartwright, just a few months back, who shot two cops and was assassinated at close range after his truck was rammed and flipped over. Let us further recall the Polk County sheriff, Grady Judd, whose SWAT team shot a surrendering man 68 times after two Polk County officers shot each other while trying to apprehend him.

Judd recently arrested a man for penning a song celebrating his demise.

The Roberts' shooting illustrates precisely why cops should not be armed. If we want cops to be safer, let's get the guns out of their hands.

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Here's some more on the story. What is it that they teach cops that makes them think so quickly of violence?

TAMPA
He was armed as he ran through the park.
Don't tell police you saw me, the wild-haired stranger told two bystanders.
On a busy street not far away, Tampa police Cpl. Mike Roberts lay on the pavement, a bullet in his chest draining his life from him. Fellow officers swarmed to find Roberts' shooter.
That's when police say the suspect made a call from the shadows.
"I shot a police officer," Humberto Delgado Jr. told his uncle. "I think I killed him."
Delgado was found hiding behind a house at 812 E Yukon in Sulfur Springs at 10:25 p.m. Wednesday, about 25 minutes after police believe Roberts went down.
Soon after officers handcuffed the suspect, they learned this deeply troubled man was a former police officer.
It was a stunning revelation Thursday that added insult to a city police department already reeling from killings.
"The loss of Cpl. Mike Roberts is a tremendous tragedy to us," Tampa police Chief Stephen Hogue said. "It makes it even more difficult to understand how somebody with a law enforcement background could do something like this."
Roberts' slaying marked Tampa's fourth homicide in five days, making this one of the most violent weeks in memory.
"This is a grieving community," Hogue said in a somber afternoon news conference at police headquarters. "It has been a terrible week."
• • •
Nelson Giddings, 54, was keeping watch on Nebraska Avenue from the New Beginnings of Tampa emergency shelter and mission Wednesday night.
The neighborhood was quiet. No cars passed by.
Across the street, he saw a man pushing a shopping cart. Giddings, a security guard at the shelter, didn't pay much attention. Just another homeless guy with a shopping cart, he thought.
He saw a police car go by about five or 10 minutes later.
Roberts, an 11-year veteran with the force, was always on the lookout for suspicious activity — and Tampa police policy encourages its officers to make self-initiated calls.
So, mindful of recent burglaries in the neighborhood, Roberts radioed in to let dispatchers know he was stopping. He wanted to question a man pushing a full shopping cart down N Nebraska Avenue, he said.
It was 9:58 p.m.
A couple driving by saw two men struggling. They made a U-turn and watched and called 911.
Delgado pistol-whipped Roberts, then fired a shot. The bullet, police say, traveled from Roberts' shoulder into his chest, through an opening in his bulletproof vest.
A dispatcher called for back-up when Roberts didn't respond.
At 10:03 p.m., Sgt. Paul Mumford was the first on scene at Nebraska and E Arctic Street. He saw a man walking away. And then he noticed Roberts.
"Halt!" the police command rang out through the streets. "Halt!"
Delgado pulled an AR-15 assault rifle from a canvas bag and pointed it at Mumford.
The sergeant took cover behind a Dumpster.
Delgado ran west.
Mumford rushed to Roberts' side and frantically tried to revive him.
Soon, helicopters filled the sky and police cars lined the streets.
Roberts died at 10:50 p.m. at Tampa General Hospital. He was 38, and left behind a wife and 3-year-old son.
• • •
Police still have many questions about what happened.
But they know Delgado was armed with an arsenal.
He had a .45-caliber pistol, a .22-caliber pistol, a 9mm semi-automatic weapon and an AR-15 assault rifle, they say.
When they cuffed him, officers found a gun in his pants.
"The truth," Hogue said Thursday, "is, as tragic as this situation is, we're probably lucky there weren't additional police officers shot and hurt."
Delgado, who served a little more than a year in the U.S. Army, had a receipt from a Fort Bragg, N.C., pawn shop for three weapons. Hogue said at least one of the guns matched the receipt.
It's not clear how long Delgado has been carrying the guns.
Hogue said there is evidence he took a trip to North Carolina about a month ago.
Family members say Delgado, who was honorably discharged from the Army, has been treated for mental illness.
According to federal and North Carolina law, gun buyers can't have been ruled mentally incompetent or have been committed to any mental institution. Armed servicemen and women do not have special purchasing rights.
• • •
News of Roberts' death rippled through an already violence-weary city Thursday.
"It's a tragic day in Tampa today," Hogue said before the sun even rose.
Throughout the day, flowers, candles and notes piled up at the Roll Call of Honor memorial in front of police headquarters at 411 N Franklin St.
A hockey stick and Tampa police jersey commemorated Roberts' time on the department recreational team.
For about 20 minutes leading up to a 2 p.m. news conference, the upper lobby of headquarters was unusually quiet. The usually chatty members of the media said little as the room filled with stern-faced officers, hugging and patting one another, black bands decorating their shiny badges.
All day, the department's staff and police went about the difficult work of planning a funeral, meeting with family, coordinating media availability.
But still officers patrolled.
"Every one of them is out there doing their job," Hogue said, "but they're grieving the loss of one of their officers."
• • •
If anything took people by surprise, it was the parallels between Roberts and the man police say shot him.
Both were police officers. Both U.S. Army veterans. Both fathers in their 30s.
Hogue said it was hard to understand.
But with Delgado behind bars on charges of first-degree murder of a law enforcement officer, aggravated assault of a law enforcement officer and carrying a concealed firearm, police weren't spending any time analyzing his state of mind or personal history.
"It's really irrelevant to our investigation," Hogue said. "This suspect knew exactly what he was doing."
• • •
Residents of Sulfur Springs knew Roberts from his patrols.
He had been to the New Beginnings of Tampa shelter before, helping to restore peace when fights broke out or when there was trouble with drugs.
"He would be calm, subdued," said Jeanette Julian, who runs the shelter with her husband. "He would try to talk the situation out with people and calm them down."
Earlier Wednesday night, the shelter's residents had attended a church service. The preacher talked about evil lurking in the darkness. If people stayed in the light, he said, they would prosper and grow.
In the aftermath of the shooting, Dan Julian, the shelter's director, said Humberto Delgado must have had evil in his heart.
Amid the chaos Thursday, a group of people gathered in a prayer circle outside the shelter.
They prayed for the officer's life. They prayed for the suspect's soul.
Times researcher John Martin and staff writers Justin George, Colleen Jenkins, Jared Leone, Robbyn Mitchell and Jamal Thalji contributed to this report. Rebecca Catalanello can be reached at rcatalanello@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3383.

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HankT wrote:

Roberts may have saved dozens of lives on Wednesday. We just don't know yet.

Click to expand...

Well, your proposal is clearly wrong.

While Roberts was running through the park, telling the people there not to tell anyone that they saw him, he didn't open fire. Doesn't look like a murderous savage or guy trying to go on a massacre.

I wonder, he had a shopping cart at the first encounter. He was quoted during his run through the park, and he was found with four weapons, one of which was in his pants.

Did he run through the park with his shopping cart?

Here's something else that's inetresting.

From the story I quoted: "Tampa police policy encourages its officers to make self-initiated calls."

Here's another story from the Tampa Tribune:

"The shooting happened about 10 p.m. Wednesday, when Roberts responded to a report of a suspicious man pushing a shopping cart full of items near Nebraska Avenue and Arctic Street. There have been several burglaries in that area, police said.
Police said a fight ensued after Roberts confronted the man and tried to use his Taser."


Which is it? Was he responding to a call, or was it a self-initiated call? Just wait a few days. The press will publish the police press releases as news and fix the stories.

Another thing: "A woman who lives near the scene said she heard a popping sound shortly after 10 p.m. She then heard an officer on an intercom shouting, "Backup, backup, backup."" http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/au...cer-reportedly-shot-nebraska-aven/news-metro/

Who, precisely, is on an intercom? Surely not Roberts.

We may never know what happened.

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HankT wrote:

There's got to be a way to take their guns away from them so that they don't do shizzit like this...

Click to expand...

And how do you suggust doing that?

HankT wrote:

I'm getting rather PO'd at these GWAGs. They're damaging my rights! :cuss:

Click to expand...

And bywantingto disarm them you are damaging your rights as well. give the Gov't an inch and they will take a mile and soon we wil be Briton all because we said it is ok to disarm him because he may do something, or its ok to disarm him because he is scarry looking or it is ok to disarm him because he is so crazy that he actualy belives that the constution is supreame law of the land, and on top of that he thinks it is ok to openly carry a gun in public. Whare dose it end?

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Hillmann wrote:

And bywantingto disarm them you are damaging your rights as well.

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No, HankT Troll is multiply unarmed, no wits, no guns and no insight.

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Doug Huffman wrote:

Hillmann wrote:

And bywantingto disarm them you are damaging your rights as well.

Click to expand...

No, HankT Troll is multiply unarmed, no wits, no guns and no insight.

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Oooh, a shot!

Well, at least Iam nota NRA instructor like you, Doug. For many years.

How could you sell out like that?

Doug Huffman, NRA Instructor. What an awful ring to it....

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HankT wrote:

Initial information points toward legally obtained guns. This one may be pretty bad for uslaw abiding gun owners.

Click to expand...

And why is that? Nobody here, who is law abiding, has committed a crime.

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An awful ring but honest experience from which to damn the NRA and move on. Thank you mentioning it.

It is more experience, provenance, and background than HankT Troll can claim.

HankT wrote:

Doug Huffman wrote:

Hillmann wrote:

And bywantingto disarm them you are damaging your rights as well.

Click to expand...

No, HankT Troll is multiply unarmed, no wits, no guns and no insight.

Click to expand...

Oooh, a shot!

Well, at least Iam nota NRA instructor like you, Doug. For many years.

How could you sell out like that?

Doug Huffman, NRA Instructor. What an awful ring to it....

Click to expand...

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another over zealous cop sticking his nose where its not needed.

completely the officers fault.

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I dunno, Hank. For being so concernedmy words were harmful to OC, you sure spend a lot of time re-posting them for everyone to see.

Well, at least you shifted gears and finally recognized thatI meant"attack" as compared to "defense" against anti-gunner whining.

Do you think that maybe within the next two years, you will get around to acknowledging the rest of that thread? I notice you didn't post a link to it this time.

Off your meds lately, Hank?

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o->i wrote:

another over zealous cop sticking his nose where its not needed.

completely the officers fault.

Click to expand...

Sick conclusion based on what?

Yata hey

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Grapeshot wrote:

o->i wrote:

another over zealous cop sticking his nose where its not needed.

completely the officers fault.

Click to expand...

Sick conclusion based on what?

Yata hey

Click to expand...

on the article what do you think.

self initiated stop. aka HARASSMENT.

i don't doubt the fight started because the person did not want to be harassed. if that cop would've never stopped him, he would be alive, this man wouldn't be executed like he surely will in florida.

cops are criminals, and this cop stuck his nose where it didn't belong. now he is dead.