Florida
police officer dies on duty after getting shot, run over
Send a link to a friend
[December 22, 2014]
By Letitia Stein
TAMPA, Fla. (Reuters) - A veteran Florida
police officer died on Sunday after being gunned down and run over with
a car by a felon who said he "felt like a caged rat" because he faced
likely arrest and more prison time, a law enforcement official said.
|
Officer Charles Kondek, a 45-year-old married father of six, was
killed in Tarpon Springs, about 30 miles northwest of Tampa, after
responding to a noise complaint around 2 a.m. EST, the local police
department said.
Authorities charged Marco Antonio Parilla Jr., a 23-year-old
released from prison in March and wanted for an alleged probation
violation, with the first-degree murder of the officer.
"A tragedy caused by a coward," said Tarpon Springs Police Chief
Robert Kochen. "It’s devastating."
Kondek's death followed a Saturday afternoon shooting in New York
City, where a gunman shot dead two police officers and then killed
himself. Authorities said that shooter had indicated on social media
that he would seek revenge for recent U.S. police killings of
unarmed black men.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2014/Dec/22/images/ads/current/culligan_sda_090414.gif) Parilla's actions in the Florida case did not appear to be motivated
by any similar desire to retaliate for the killings.
Kondek had responded to a 911 call about someone refusing to lower
the volume of music in a car parked outside an apartment building,
Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said.
The officer encountered Parilla, who was at the apartments looking
for someone he believed had reported him for violating his
probation, the sheriff said.
Parilla fired shots from a .40-caliber handgun, hitting Kondek in
the upper body with one round, Gualtieri said. The suspect then ran
over the officer as he drove off from the scene, according to the
sheriff.
"His reason for shooting the officer was he 'felt like a caged
rat,'" the sheriff said at a news conference.
[to top of second column] |
![](../images/ads/current/richardson_lda_040113.png)
Parilla was taken into custody after crashing the car into a pole
and a parked vehicle and then running away on foot while being
chased by police, the sheriff's office said.
He has an extensive criminal history, police said. Parilla was
released from a Florida prison in March after serving a little more
than two years for leaving the scene of a crash where there were
injuries, as well as for various drug charges, corrections records
show.
Parilla apologized to Kondek's family as officers escorted him into
jail on Sunday, video from local media showed.
"That was not my intention," he said.
Kondek served on the Tarpon Springs police force for more than 17
years and previously worked as an officer for the New York City
Police Department, officials said.
(Reporting by Letitia Stein; Additional reporting and writing by
Colleen Jenkins; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn, Diane Craft and Christian
Plumb)
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2014/Dec/22/images/ads/current/graue_christmas_sda_2014.png) |