Orlando Police Officer Shot, Four Children Held Hostage
A woman contacted Orlando police at 11:45 p.m. Sunday night to advise them that her boyfriend had battered her. Police responded to the apartment with probable cause to arrest the man for domestic violence. As they confronted him, he opened fire, hitting an Orlando police officer. Police returned fire.
The suspect then barricaded himself inside an apartment in the Westbrook apartment complex… with 4 children. The children are ages 1, 7, 10, and 12. As of Monday morning, the SWAT team is still on site, and police are attempting to negotiate with the suspect. It is unknown if the suspect was hit with the return fire.
Chief John Mina stated that some of the children were the suspect’s and some belonged to the reporting party. He said that the suspect has sometimes answered their calls and sometimes has not. Their main concern is the children inside the apartment.
The building was evacuated and tenents taken to a nearby McDonalds, then to a Holiday Inn.
The injured officer was taken to Orlando Regional Medical Center. He is out of surgery. His name has not been released, nor has the name of the suspect.
“It is a very serious, significant injury. He is expected to survive.” Chief John Mina
One man from Orange County corrections who knew the officer who was shot drove his pickup to the hospital and sat in the back waving a thin blue line flag in support of police. The corrections employee, Thomas Newmann, told the Orlando Sentinel that the injured officer has been with the OPD just under two years.
At 11:45 pm, OPD responded to a domestic violence call at the Westbrook Apartments on Eaglesmere Drive. The suspect fired shots, striking one of our officers. pic.twitter.com/W6lryLW7gk
— Orlando Police (@OrlandoPolice) June 11, 2018
The suspect is barricaded inside the home with four hostages – children who are 1, 7, 10 and 12 years old. pic.twitter.com/7pPYjX8O4H
— Orlando Police (@OrlandoPolice) June 11, 2018
OPD @ChiefJohnMina: Our main concern right now is the children that are being held hostage in the apartment with suspect who shot and seriously wounded one of our officers responding to a domestic violence call. pic.twitter.com/Y8PwAq30Ic
— Orlando Police (@OrlandoPolice) June 11, 2018
Orlando police: Officer shot; gunman has children hostage https://t.co/XdHWG8qxov pic.twitter.com/hxVkXd0SWM
— Spectrum Bay News 9 (@BN9) June 11, 2018
HOSTAGE SITUATION: There is a SWAT presence at the Westbrook Apartments, just north of Universal. Four children are being held hostage by a man who shot one Orlando police officer overnight. https://t.co/drghoaJY71
— Fox 35 News (@Fox35News) June 11, 2018
Man who allegedly shot police officer accused of taking 4 kids hostage in Orlando: https://t.co/t8nG5Ilint pic.twitter.com/7jI3SrRyqI
— KTBB Radio (@KTBBRadio) June 11, 2018
— Butch Brown7 (@Brown7Butch) June 11, 2018
A domestic violence suspect shot an Orlando police officer & took four children hostage. The gunman is holding the children — ages 12, 10, 7 and 1 — hostage inside an apartment as police attempt to negotiate an end to the armed standoff, reported WESH-TV.https://t.co/wKzYQ9EqlJ
— Citizens Fed Up (@CitizensFedUp) June 11, 2018
Man who allegedly shot police officer accused of taking four children hostage in Orlando. https://t.co/88c8rsq849 pic.twitter.com/y7FO8kyom6
— ABC News (@ABC) June 11, 2018
[…] evening’s Orlando standoff that we previously reported, ended in tragedy on Monday evening. All four children were murdered, […]