PORT RICHEY - The grief traveled from Pasco County to the 21st floor of a skyscraper in downtown Tampa.
The day after Lt. Charles "Bo" Harrison was shot, Lori Eakley walked into work teary eyed. Her husband, Mel, is a Pasco sheriff's deputy. She began talking to colleagues at the law firm where she works about Harrison's death.
One of the firm's partners, Stephen Diaco, was touched.
"I just felt compelled to do something," said Diaco, 34. "The devastation these people suffered made it so apparent to me what a great man this was, a pillar to the community, a hero, a leader in the African-American community, a maverick, a pioneer."
Diaco of Adams, Blackwell & Diaco immediately started thinking about the case. He knew sheriff's detectives had not yet found the weapon used.
So he called disc jockey Bubba the Love Sponge Clem and, on the air, offered a $5,000 reward for any information leading to the recovery of the rifle used to kill Harrison.
A week passed. Nothing happened.
He had Eakley, his office manager, contact the Sheriff's Office.
Detectives were pleased and decided to match his offer.
On Wednesday, they announced a $10,000 reward for any information leading to the rifle that sent a bullet into Harrison's back as he sat in a parked patrol car outside a Lacoochee nightclub on June 1.
The money will come from the agency's investigative funds.
Analysts with the FBI crime lab in Quantico, Va., believe the killer used an SKS rifle, a gas-operated, semiautomatic weapon about 40 inches long and 8.8 pounds.
"I'm begging anyone with any information about this weapon to come forward and help to get a conviction for the murder of this officer . . .," Diaco said. "He's a hero to me. He is what people should aspire to be in life."
A 19-year-old Lacoochee man, Alfredie Steele Jr., has been charged in Harrison's killing.
State Attorney Bernie McCabe said finding the rifle would be helpful in proving the case against Steele. But he said presenting the gun as evidence "is not essential" to winning a conviction.
Finding the gun also would serve a public safety purpose, he said.
"I would like to get the weapon off the street," McCabe said Wednesday, after a grand jury indicted Steele on a charge of first-degree murder. "I don't know if (the rifle) is out there getting ready to shoot someone else."
Diaco's office manager, Eakley, 34, said she, too, hopes detectives locate the gun for the safety of all residents and law enforcement officers, including her husband, a school resource officer at Centennial Middle School in Dade City. He has been patrolling the county's east side lately.
More than ever, she worries when he leaves for work.
"I say "be careful' and "I love you' more," Eakley said. "Because it could be the last time."
Anyone with information on the case is asked to call Detective Jennifer Christensen at 1-800-854-2862, ext. 5119. Tipsters can remain anonymous, sheriff's spokesman Kevin Doll said.
- Times staff writer Cary Davis contributed to this report.
