Orlando Police Increase Reward to $100,000 For Loyd's Capture

Hundreds searching for suspect in Orlando officer's death; reward raised to $100,000
WESH 2 News
Updated: 3:08 PM EST Jan 10, 2017

ORLANDO, Fla.
Authorities have increased the reward to $100,000 for information leading to the arrest of a suspect in the slaying of an Orlando police sergeant.

Orlando police Master Sgt. Debra Clayton, 42, was shot by Markeith Loyd, 41, after she spotted him outside the Walmart on Princeton Street around 7:15 a.m. Monday, police Chief John Mina said.

Loyd has managed to elude authorities since the shooting, despite hundreds of Central Florida law enforcement agents joining the search.

After shooting Clayton, authorities said Loyd fled toward the Pine Hills neighborhood, where he fired shots at a deputy’s cruiser and carjacked a vehicle.

Orange County Sheriff's Deputy Norman Lewis, an 11-year veteran, was killed in a crash as authorities gave pursuit.
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UCF campus reopens after dorm death, explosive devices found

UCF campus reopens after dorm death, explosive devices found
FBI, OCSO and UCF Police continue to investigate after explosives found in residence hall.
By Amy Pavuk, Denise-Marie Ordway and Leslie Postal
Orlando Sentinel

4:00 p.m. EDT, March 18, 2013

University of Central Florida officials confirmed that the man found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound early Monday morning was a student at the school and that explosive devices were found in his dorm apartment.

The deceased student, identified as James Oliver Seevakumaran, 30, was found in his dorm room in Tower 1, a seven-story structure near the UCF Arena.

UCF Police, the FBI and Orange County Sheriff's Office bomb squad have been on campus since early Monday morning.

The explosives found in a bag near the student "have been made safe" by law enforcement officers and school officials said they have been removed.
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Several People Dead After 25-Minute Ordeal

Orange County Shooting Spree: Several People Dead After 25-Minute Ordeal
Police In California Say
Huffington Post
By GILLIAN FLACCUS
02/19/13

TUSTIN, Calif. — A young man shot a woman to death in a home early Tuesday then went on a spree of carjackings and random shootings across Orange County that left two more people dead and three others wounded before the gunman killed himself, authorities said.

Many more victims were shot at but unhurt, Tustin Lt. Paul Garaven said.

The gunman was only described as being in his 20s, and his motive was not known, according to officials of at least four agencies investigating multiple crime scenes.

It was unclear if the victims knew each other or the shooter, Orange County sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino said.

"It might have been a random thing," he said. "We just don't know."

When officers tried to stop him, he got out of the vehicle and killed himself, Garaven said. A shotgun was recovered at the scene.
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Orlando Santa Fill The Boat Wrap Up

Yesterday I went to Homeless Services Network n Edgewater Drive in Orlando to see all the toys collected last week at the Fill The Boat drive at WalMart in Orlando. Amazing to see how generous people can be.
This is the interview I did with Sean Gibbs, Veteran Services Coordinator.


This one is from last week in case you missed it.


If you like watching videos on local veterans events please donate so I can keep covering what these groups are doing.

Point Man of Winter Park is a 501c3

Coast Guard Santa fills the boat for children of homeless veterans

If you went to the WalMart on Colonial Drive in Orlando yesterday, you may have seen a very strange thing. A huge boat parked in front of the building in between the entrances.

Tom Hoisington of the US Coast Guard Auxiliary, Sean Gibbs, the Veterans Services Coordinator, of Homeless Services Network members of The Bunker Corporal Larry Eugene Smedley, National Vietnam War Museum, Orange County Sheriff officers and WalMart teamed up to fill the boat with toys for children of homeless veterans.

I arrived around 2:00 and there were already a lot of toys. By the time I left at 4:00 the boat was just about full. The customers kept coming out with new toys and most of them were young adults.

The fact that Tom and Sean are Iraq veterans and Sean sits in a wheelchair, made it all the more sweeter!

O.C. sheriff's deputy cleared in fatal shooting Sgt. Manuel Loggins Jr.

O.C. sheriff's deputy cleared in fatal shooting of unarmed Marine
Prosecutors say Darren Sandberg, a 15-year veteran of the department, acted reasonably when he shot Manuel Loggins Jr. in a school parking lot after he refused to follow the deputy's orders.
By Nicole Santa Cruz
Los Angeles Times
September 29, 2012

An Orange County sheriff's deputy has been cleared in the fatal shooting of an unarmed Marine after investigators with the district attorney's office concluded he acted with appropriate force.

In a 13-page letter to Sheriff Sandra Hutchens released Friday, prosecutors said Deputy Darren Sandberg, a 15-year veteran of the department, acted reasonably and with sufficient force given the circumstances of the predawn incident in which Manuel Loggins Jr. was shot in a school parking lot after he refused to follow Sandberg's orders.

"Consequently, although this incident ended tragically, and in hindsight may have been preventable, we find there is insufficient evidence to prove that Deputy Sandberg's conduct violated criminal law," the prosecutors wrote.

Sandberg returned to work in March in a non-patrol assignment. The district attorney's investigation essentially closes a criminal inquiry, although a civil one is pending.

The shooting puzzled those close to Loggins, who remember the 31-year-old married father of three as a deeply religious career Marine and left them wondering why a military member would ignore the commands of a uniformed officer.

"It's usually hard to know what's in a person's mind," said Senior Deputy Dist. Atty. Dan Wagner. "This is no different."

Wagner and fellow prosecutor Susan Price said that shortly before 4:40 a.m. on Feb. 7, Loggins sped his SUV into a San Clemente High School parking lot and crashed into a gate, trapping part of it under his vehicle. His two young daughters were also in the car.
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Original report
2 kids in back seat when Marine from Camp Pendleton was shot at high school

2 kids in back seat when Marine from Camp Pendleton was shot at high school

UPDATE
Sheriff's Deputy Cleared

UPDATE

Marine fatally shot by deputy described as deeply religious
Sgt. Manuel Loggins Jr. was shot by an Orange County sheriff's deputy in a parking lot at San Clemente High School. He regularly went to the campus track with his young daughters for early-morning prayer walks.

By Christopher Goffard, Los Angeles Times
February 10, 2012
A decorated Marine who was fatally shot by an Orange County sheriff's deputy in a high school parking lot was described Thursday as a deeply religious man who regularly went to the campus track with his young daughters for early-morning prayer walks.

Sgt. Manuel Loggins Jr. was shot to death during the predawn hours Tuesday under largely unexplained circumstances in a parking lot at San Clemente High School.

Loggins' daughters, 9 and 14, were sitting nearby in the family SUV at the time of the shooting.

Loggins, who was based at Camp Pendleton, was driving "at a high rate of speed" when he crashed his Yukon SUV through a gate at the parking lot about 4:30 a.m. Tuesday, said sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino.
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Officials: 2 kids in back seat when Marine was shot
Feb. 9, 2012 Updated: 10:20 a.m.
Authorities say a deputy feared for his life when he shot a Camp Pendleton Marine at a high school early Tuesday morning.

By SALVADOR HERNANDEZ / THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

SAN CLEMENTE – Two young daughters of a Camp Pendleton Marine were in the back seat of an SUV on Tuesday when a sheriff's deputy fired, fatally wounding the 31-year-old man, officials said Thursday.

On Thursday morning, officials with the Orange County Sheriff's Department identified the man as Manuel Levi Loggins and began to release details regarding what led a deputy to shoot him after a traffic stop at San Clemente High School.

Officials would not say how close the shooting occurred to the two girls, who they said were 9 and 14 years old, but said the shooting was near the vehicle.

Authorities said Loggins was walking back toward the GMC Yukon when the deputy feared for his life and fired. The two girls were not injured.

Sheriff's officials said Loggins was spotted speeding and crashing through a gate at the high school along Avenida Pico early Tuesday, prompting a deputy to contact the Marine.
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"We've got a grieving department" at Orange County Sheriff's Office

OCSO: Deputy On Duty Collapses, Dies

Rescue Workers Called To YMCA Aquatic Center

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Orange County Sheriff's Office officials said a deputy died while on the job at the YMCA Aquatic Center Wednesday evening.

"We've got a grieving department, I've got personnel here that are really shaken up, we've got a wife here that's really shaken up," Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings said.

OCSO Deputy Michael Erickson
OCSO identified the deputy as homicide investigator Deputy First Class Michael Erickson.
Officials said the sheriff's office received a 911 call at about 4:30 p.m., after Erickson collapsed at the YMCA Aquatic Center.

Fire Rescue arrived at the scene and transported the deputy to Dr. Phillips Hospital. OCSO officials said that despite the best efforts of rescue workers, Erickson passed away.
"Deputy Erickson proudly served the Orange County Sheriff's Office since January of 1998," the OCSO said in a news release. "He leaves behind a loving wife, and two sons. Please keep his family, friends and co-workers in your thoughts and prayers."

OCSO Deputy Sebastian Diana
Sebastian Diana, 40, died on Sunday from an illness he contracted five years ago while performing CPR on a baby, OCSO officials said.

"In less than a week's time the Orange County Sheriff's Office is mourning the untimely death of two of its finest officers," the OCSO said in a news release.

Diana's memorial service will be this weekend. Erickson's has not been announced.
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http://www.wesh.com/news/27219627/detail.html

Patrick D. Deans: Orlando soldier killed in Afghanistan

Patrick D. Deans of Orlando was killed Sunday in Afghanistan. (U.S. Army / December 14, 2010)

Patrick D. Deans: Orlando soldier killed in Afghanistan
Spc. Patrick D. Deans, whose father is a corporal with the Orange County Sheriff's Office, was killed Sunday in the Kandahar province of Afghanistan.

By Gary Taylor and Susan Jacobson, Orlando Sentinel
7:59 p.m. EST, December 14, 2010

It's clear from Spc. Patrick D. Deans' Facebook page that he understood the danger inherent in becoming a soldier.

"A Veteran is someone, who at one point in their life, wrote a blank check payable to the United States of America for an amount up to, and including their life," Deans posted on his wall Nov. 10. "That is beyond honor, and there are way too many people in this country who no longer remember that fact."

A little more than a month later, Deans was one of six soldiers killed in Kandahar province, Afghanistan by a suicide bomber. He died Sunday, two days before his 23rd birthday.

Deans served in Iraq during his first tour of duty and was sent to Afghanistan after he reenlisted, said Butch Herdegen, 23, one of Deans' closest friends.

The only child of Patrick M. Deans, a corporal with the Orange County Sheriff's Office, and his ex-wife, Robyn Deans, of Seminole County, Deans grew up in east Orange County.

The family moved to Narcoossee in east Osceola County, where Deans attended Harmony High and played on the school football team. He moved back to east Orange with his dad and graduated in 2006 from Timber Creek High, Herdegen said.

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Patrick D. Deans: Orlando soldier killed in Afghanistan

also another solider from Florida, Specialist Jorge E. Villacis, 24, of Sunrise, killed in same attack



Soldier from Sunrise killed in Afghanistan

Disney-area McDonald's robbed, two employees tied up

Disney-area McDonald's robbed, two employees tied up
Witnesses said a man wearing a hood and gloves robbed the McDonald's on Buena Vista Drive near Disney, deputies said.

Sentinel Staff Writer

11:14 a.m. EDT, September 8, 2009


A man robbed a Disney-area McDonald's restaurant this morning, authorities said.

Orange County Sheriff's deputies responded to a report of a robbery at the McDonald's restaurant at 1674 E. Buena Vista Drive just before 7 a.m, the agency said.

Deputies found two employees tied up inside.
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Disney area McDonalds robbed, two employees tied up

Another death by police taser

Man dies after deputies stun him with a Taser
Oct 01, 2008 14:10 -0400

Updated: 11 minutes ago
The Orange County Sheriff's Office said the man who deputies tased died this morning. The agency confirmed the man was "under the influence" but has not released his name.

Police Officers Learn to Help Veterans in Crisis

Officers Learn to Help Veterans in Crisis
Darry E. Owens


The Miami Herald

Sep 30, 2008
September 29, 2008, Orlando, FL - Though aging vets from past wars present ongoing problems, Barbara Lewis, crisis intervention training commander for the Orange County Sheriff's Office, said deputies are facing the issue more now because of veterans home from the current wars.

''We're seeing it in these economic times: stressors in their lives pushing them over the edge,'' Lewis said. ``Anything we can do as law-enforcement officers to protect our returning vets is important.''

Given the troubling incidence of post-traumatic-stress disorder -- or PTSD -- associated with recently returned troops, mental-health experts have pushed for alternative ways for law enforcement to deal with vets in nonviolent incidents.

A recent RAND Corp. study found nearly 20 percent of returning troops -- about 300,000 -- have PTSD or major depression.

Of those, only 53 percent sought treatment. Many others are battling traumatic brain injuries and depression that also can alter mood and behavior.

go here for more

http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/11295