Yesterday was a brutal day for America’s law enforcement community.
Six police officers were shot in three separate incidents in two states. In Florida, authorities are describing the attack on two Kissimmee cops as an “ambush.” Both officers are now dead. Another incident in Jacksonville resulted in two more officers being wounded. And in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, two state troopers were also shot and injured.
A second Kissimmee Police officer has died after a Friday night attack on law enforcement.
Sgt. Richard “Sam” Howard died Saturday from gunshot wounds he suffered when he and fellow officer Matthew Baxter were shot during a routine stop in the McLaren Circle area, according to department spokeswoman.
Baxter died Friday night shortly after the shooting.
Baxter was investigating three suspicious people about 9:30 p.m. near Palmway and Cypress streets when Howard came to help and a “scuffle” broke out, O’Dell said. That’s when police say Marine veteran Everett Glenn Miller, 45, shot the officers.
Investigators are still working to understand the details of what happened in the moments before the shooting, officials said.
The officers — who were wearing body armor underneath their uniforms — did not have a chance to return fire. O’Dell said “it looked like they were surprised” by the gunfire.
Miller fled to Roscoe’s Bar at 2344 N. Orange Blossom Trail, where Osceola County Sheriff’s Office detectives found him about 11:30 p.m. When the officers approached him, Miller reached for his waistband — but a fast-acting deputy tackled him to the ground and arrested him, O’Dell said.
“Extremely brave and heroic actions by the deputy, there were other people in the vicinity,” O’Dell said. “They went hands-on, tackled him to the ground and secured him [and] located a 9mm and .22 revolver on his person.”
When officers took Miller to the Osceola County Jail Saturday, they placed Baxter’s handcuffs on his wrists, O’Dell said.
The suspect, Everett Miller, has a history of mental illness and made threats against law enforcement on his Facebook page:
The Sheriff’s Office recently took Miller into custody under Florida’s Baker Act, which allows involuntary commitment of people in mental health crises. Miller, who has no criminal record in Florida, was enlisted in the Marines from 1989 to 2010, according to military records.
O’Dell said the community needs to work with law enforcement. Social media posts showed Miller threatening law enforcement, O’Dell said, “but we never got a call on that.’’
A Facebook page believed to be Miller’s is filled with posts expressing anger over racism, slavery and the KKK. In one post, he shared a meme encouraging people to “shoot back” with a photo of Martin Luther King Jr.
“You can poke a tie [sic] up dog for so long,” Miller wrote.
I wonder who might have encouraged Evans to think like that?
This is not the time to be talking about black people targeting police. We want no distractions from talking about hate in America — white people hating black people. So what if a black guy carried through with the famous Black Lives Matter chant “Pigs in a blanket. Fry ’em like bacon”? We can’t let it get in the way of erasing history, scoring political points against Republicans, and accusing every single white person in America of being if not an overt white supremacist, then certainly a sympathizer with the Kluxers.
So the two dead officers — who happen to be black — must be tossed down the rabbit hole never to be seen or heard of again. We’re far too busy demonstrating our moral superiority and signaling how virtuous we are by demanding some select objects of our rage — Confederate generals, mostly — be erased from history.
As for other haters whom we agree with politically, at least their hearts were in the right place.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member