US cop killers gun down 11 policemen

Two police officers have been gunned down in a shootout in a home in St. Petersburg, Florida, January 24, 2011.

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/161819.html

At least eleven police officers have been shot dead in the United States in the past 24-hours alone marking a dramatic rise in US police fatalities.

In the US state of Florida, two police officers were shot dead and a third sustained injuries while on an attempt to detain a criminal in the city of St. Petersburg on Monday.

Police had been in hot pursuit of the gunman - named in an aggravated battery warrant - for weeks, CNN quoted police spokesman Chuck Harmon as saying.

The officers eventually managed to locate the felon inside a house and went there at about 7 a.m. local time (1200 GMT) in response to a call, he added.

A burst of gunfire erupted in the home's attic where the man had been hiding and two of the officers were shot dead. The villain's body was not discovered until one-third of the house was torn down by a backhoe.

Meanwhile on Sunday, four officers were shot in a Detroit police station after a man walked in and opened fire on the cops. The attacker, identified as Lamar Deshea Moore, was shot to death by the police while his motive remains unknown.

Earlier in the day, a police officer had been shot during a traffic stop in Indianapolis. He is in a critical condition in hospital.

Separately, two deputies were shot in Port Orchard, Washington, near Seattle and a third one was shot on Sunday night during a traffic stop in Lincoln City, Oregon.

Two police officers were also gunned down along with a suspect in northern Miami last week. The policemen were killed when authorities raided a home in search of violent criminals.

During recent years, the number of police fatalities in the Unites States has seen a dramatic increase.

In 2010 alone, 160 police officers lost their lives in the line of duty, marking a 37 percent increase from the 117 deaths last year.

Most of the killings were reported in the US states of Texas, California, Illinois and Florida.