Two dead in separate overnight incidents involving Florida law enforcement officers

A man is dead after an exchange of gunfire with police officers during a traffic stop in Florida late Thursday, according to a police official.

Tampa police officers responded to a report of a shot fired in the parking lot of a nightclub on Busch Avenue around 10:50 p.m. and got a description of a vehicle that left the scene, Deputy Police Chief Calvin Johnson said at a news conference.

Sheriff’s deputies in nearby Polk County also fatally shot a suspect, sheriff’s officials said Friday. Few details were immediately available about the shooting, but Sheriff Grady Judd was expected to provide more details Friday. The shooting happened in Frostproof, which is about 75 miles (121 kilometers) southeast of Tampa.

The officers in Tampa stopped the vehicle around North 40th Street and East 32nd Avenue and as officers approached, they instructed the occupants to get out, Johnson said. A man opened the front passenger door and fired multiple rounds at officers, striking the police vehicle behind him two or three times, Johnson said.

Two officers returned fire and struck the man, who got back in the vehicle, he said. The driver took off, but pulled over about a block away and gave herself up. The man stayed in the vehicle and about 5 minutes later officers approached and took the man out. He was pronounced dead on the scene, Johnson said.

The officers were not hit and will be placed on routine administrative leave, he said. One officer has been with the department for two years and the other for six years. The driver was not injured.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the shooting, Johnson said.