BREAKING : Orlando Police Officer Fatally Shot, Manhunt Underway for Killer

Two Orlando-area law enforcement officers were killed this morning, one shot by a murder suspect who managed to get away and a second killed in a crash while officers and deputies scrambled to find him.

Orlando police Master Sgt. Debra Clayton was shot about 7:15 a.m. today by a murder suspect after a citizen spotted him at a Walmart and alerted the officer, the agency reported.

A sheriff’s deputy later was killed in a crash with a 78-year-old driver.

Law enforcement responded to the shooting with a manhunt that included hundreds of officers. They also offered a $60,000 reward for anyone helping them capture the suspect, Markeith Loyd, 41, who was accused of murdering his pregnant girlfriend in December.

Orlando Police Chief John Mina called Clayton “a hero. She gave her life for the community she loves.”

She had one child, the department reported, and was one of the first officers to respond to the mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub in June that left 49 people dead and scores injured.After the shooting officers and deputies spread out across Pine Hills, a high crime area just west of Orlando, blocking off dozens of roads, hoping to find Loyd.

“We are going to bring this dirtbag to justice, and he’s going to jail,” Mina said.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement sent out an alert midday, describing him as 6-3, 230 pounds and having last been seen on Cinderlane Parkway, a road through another high-crime area: Rosemont.

An Orlando SWAT team came and went and came back again to an apartment complex on that street.

Early on, an officer on a bullhorn called the suspect by name and told him to come out. Overhead a law enforcement helicopter circled.

At an early afternoon news conference Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings said that complex was still part of the area where authorities believed the gunman was hiding.

“We have several hundred law enforcement officers from multiple agncies that are assisting us. …. We are reasonably certain that we have the suspect in the area,” he said.

TaQueria Jones, a Walmart cashier, said Clayton checked out at her register minutes before the shooting.

“We talked about family, we talked about God,” Jones said.

The casher and others on Mnoday planted flowers in a spot just feet from where Clayton was killed.

“I’m going to be out here every day to straighten them up. Every day,” Jones said.

The second law enforcement death today was an Orange County motorcycle deputy who was part of the effort to find the suspect, Demings said.

“We’re sad on this day for many reasons,” Demings said at a morning news conference at Orlando Regional Medical Center. “In my 36-year career, this is possibly one of the toughest days for me.”

Both officers were taken to ORMC and pronounced dead there.

Demings did not release the name of the deputy, saying the agency was still trying to notify relatives.

Loyd has a long criminal history and on Nov. 30 wrote this on his Facebook page, “Goals!!!! To be on Americas most wanted.”

Both OPD and the Sheriff’s Office described him as armed and dangerous, and Demings asked anyone with information about his whereabouts to contact law enforcement immediately.

Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs asked Orange County residents to simply stay indoors.

“We need citizens to be diligent, we need them to be careful. … If you don’t have to be out, don’t be out,” she said.

H/T – OrlandoSentinel

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