Veteran St. Pete Cop Shot and Killed; Police Hunt for the Gunman

ST. PETERSBURG - Officer David S. Crawford, a 25-year veteran of the St. Petersburg Police force was shot multiple times and killed Monday night while trying to apprehend a suspected burglar.

Crawford leaves behind a wife and 24 year old daughter.

A manhunt has been under way since late Monday night for a black male, believed to be in his late teens or early 20s, wearing a dark-colored hoodie. He may be suffering from a gunshot wound.

This is the third fatal shooting of a St. Petersburg police officer in less than a month. On Jan. 24, Officers were shot and barricaded in an attic in a south St. Petersburg home.

“I’m not gonna lie, this city has been through hell. It took 30 years to lose an officer in the line of duty and within 30 days it’s happened again," Mayor Bill Foster said at a press conference, at about 2:15 a.m. Tuesday.

Crawford, 46, was shot multiple times and later died at . His family has been notified and are now at the hospital.

Police Chief Chuck Harmon said that Crawford responded to a call at about 10:30 p.m. about a suspicious person in the 700 block of 3rd Avenue South, an industrial area just west of the city's downtown.

He was fired upon when he approached the suspect who may have been trying to break into a building, the police chief said. "He was shot at close range and returned fire," Harmon said.

He declined to say whether Crawford wore a bullet-proof vest or disclose whether a weapon had been recovered. Harmon said those details are part of the investigation.

Police were interviewing a second officer who also responded to the call. Harmon said that St. Petersburg police are focused on finding the gunman. Police helicopters were using spotlights to search the Campbell Park area before dawn Tuesday.

"We have a killer on the loose. We’re gonna use every resource we have to try and locate and apprehend him," Harmon said.

Police officers and city leaders gathered outside the hospital's trauma center late Monday night, awaiting word on Crawford's condition. Foster and several City Councilors appeared with Harmon at the press conference.

Harmon disclosed the following details about the incident:

The officer (at the time unnamed) had responded to a call at about 10:30 p.m. Monday about a suspicious person outside a building on 3rd Avenue South. He and a second officer, identified as Donald Ziegler, arrived at the scene. They saw the suspect holding what appeared to be a brick. The suspect then jumped over a fence.

Officer Ziegler located the suspect at 2nd Avenue South and 8th Street South. When the unnamed officer tried to approach the suspect, the suspect shot him. Harmon said there was an exchange of gunfire, but it is not clear whether the suspect was injured. The man fled the scene.

Harmon made a public plea for anyone with information to phone police at 727-893-7780.

He said that it is difficult right now for police to process that another officer has been killed in the line of duty.

"It hurts and it stings and it's hard to take," Harmon said. "The officers are saying, 'Not again.' ''