Slain officers

By JOHN MARTIN and CATHY WOS

© St. Petersburg Times,
published July 7, 2001

According to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, 14 officers in the Tampa Bay area have been slain in the line of duty since 1980.

JULY 6, 2001: Tampa Officer Lois Marrero is shot and killed by bank robbery suspect.

MAY 19, 1998: Tampa detectives Ricky Childers and Randy Bell are shot to death in a struggle with Hank Earl Carr. Carr later shoots and kills Trooper James B. Crooks on an Interstate 75 exit ramp in Pasco County.

MARCH 3, 1998: Haines City Officer Christopher Todd Horner is shot dead while investigating a car parked at a cemetery.

MARCH 8, 1997: Winter Haven Officer Johnnie Patterson Jr. is shot dead while pursuing the driver of a car he was trying to pull over during a routine traffic stop.

JUNE 13, 1993: Belleair Officer Jeffery Tackett is shot dead with his own gun while struggling with a burglary suspect outside a condominium.

DEC. 30, 1988: Tampa Officer Porfirio Soto Jr. is shot and killed when he attempts to serve an arrest warrant at a home in Seminole Heights.

DEC. 13, 1984: State wildlife officer Margaret "Peggy" Park is shot dead when she encounters two teenagers firing a stolen handgun near Keystone Road in East Lake.

NOV. 4, 1983: Tampa police Sgt. Gary Pricher is struck and killed by a drunken driver as he changes a tire on Interstate 4.

JULY 24, 1981: Tampa detective Gerald Rauft is shot and killed during an undercover drug transaction.

DEC. 15, 1981: Hillsborough sheriff's Deputy Lemon Harvey is shot dead outside his Thonotosassa home.

JAN. 9, 1981: Polk County sheriff's Deputy Theron Anthony Burnham is attacked when he responds to a reported abduction and is shot with his own pistol.

AUG. 18, 1980: St. Petersburg detective Herbert Ray Sullivan is shot dead during an undercover drug buy as he sits in a pickup truck.

-- Compiled by Times researchers John Martin and Cathy Wos.

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