Report: Suspect Dialed 911 After Shooting Officers

After hiding in an attic and fatally shooting two St. Petersburg (Fla.) police officers, Hydra Lacy Jr. continued to rain bullets down on officers who responded to the radio call for help, and later dialed 911 on a cellular phone to talk about surrendering. A report issued by the Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney’s Office says Lacy hid when officers arrived last month to serve a domestic violence warrant, but his estranged wife gave up his location. When officers went to search the attic, Lacy began shooting, killing the Off. Jeffrey Yaslowitz, who had crawled up to handcuff him, and Sgt. Thomas Baitinger, who arrived with a rescue team. About 30 minutes after the shooting, Lacy made a three-minute 911 call, telling a dispatcher, “I’m coming out, but I just need to gather my thoughts.” He warned the dispatcher that he would shoot anyone who came into the house, including shooting Off. Yaslowitz, whose body was still in the attic. In fact, Off. Yaslowitz was already dead. Finally Lacy told the dispatcher, “I’m getting ready to shoot, I’m getting ready to shoot,” and he hung up. After the 911 call, officers telephoned Lacy to arrange a surrender, but he refused. Lacy called relatives to say he did not want to go back to prison. Police eventually had a construction crew partially dismantle the house, and they found Lacy dead inside from several gunshot wounds. Download (pdf) the state attorney’s report here.