What to know
- A Tampa police officer was wounded in the leg in an unprovoked attack by a 21-year-old suspect outside the department's district office near Busch Gardens.
- The suspect, who was thought to be suffering a mental health crisis, fled to the amusement park's entrance and died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
- The officer, a school resource officer temporarily on street patrol, is in stable condition following surgery.
By Alexa Coultoff
Source Tampa Bay Times
A Tampa police officer was wounded in a shooting near Busch Gardens Wednesday morning, after which the suspected shooter died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said.
The officer, 40-year-old Jordan Laupert, is in stable condition at a local hospital, according to Tampa police Chief Lee Bercaw.
Shortly before 8:15 a.m. Wednesday, the suspect came to the department’s district office at 9330 N. 30th St., then shortly after that started walking along 30th Street, where he got Laupert’s attention, according to details provided by Bercaw at a news conference and in a department news release.
Bercaw said Laupert and the suspect, a 21-year-old man, had a “cordial conversation” through a fence. Then, as Laupert walked toward the back door of the district office, the suspect shot him in the leg, Bercaw said.
The suspect fled across the street to the Annie Street entrance of Busch Gardens at the 9300 block of North 30th Street, Bercaw said. Officers followed and found him dead there with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, Bercaw said.
Investigators were working Wednesday to identify the shooter and notify his family. Investigators believe he was experiencing a mental health crisis, according to police.
Officers applied a tourniquet to Laupert’s leg before he was taken to a local hospital, where he underwent surgery, police said.
“I’m thankful to be standing before you today to tell you my officer is in the hospital in stable condition and good spirits despite what happened today,” Bercaw said.
Laupert, who joined the department in 2015, is assigned as a school resource officer at Hillsborough High School but was temporarily assigned to uniform street patrol, which is standard for school resource officers during the summer months, police said.
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