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6 Cops Shot Friday in Separate Incidents

1 dead, 5 injured in separate shootings across 2 states
By Gina Carey,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 19, 2017 6:28 AM CDT
6 Cops Shot Friday in Separate Incidents
Two law enforcement officers stand guard outside Osceola Regional Medical Center in Kissimmee after two Kissimmee police officers were shot Friday, Aug. 18, 2017, in Kissimmee, Fla.   (Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel via AP)

Three separate shootings in Florida and Pennsylvania Friday have taken the life of one police officer while injuring five more. NPR reports that Officer Matthew Baxter was killed and Sgt. Sam Howard remains in “grave critical condition” after responding to an incident in central Kissimmee, Fla., Friday evening. Per CNN, the officers were caught off guard by gunfire when responding to a suspicious activity call. They were unable to return fire in the possible ambush. Florida Gov. Rick Scott called Baxter, a father of three and three-year veteran on the force, a hero, tweeting: “Tonight we lost a brave officer - Matthew Baxter. Husband/father/hero. Praying for @kissimmeepolice”; President Trump also sent condolences over social media after the news broke. Kissimmee police have three suspects in custody and are searching for another.

"This is a tough time for each one of us," Kissimmee Chief Jeff O'Dell said, asking the public to keep the police department and the families of the fallen officers in our “thoughts and prayers.” In a separate incident 165 miles north of Kissimmee in Jacksonville, Fla., two officers responding to an attempted suicide call Friday night were shot. The suspect began shooting the responding officers through a door with a “high powered rifle” before exchanging gunfire outside. The suspect was shot and died later at the hospital; one injured officer is in critical condition, the other in stable condition. Meanwhile, NPR reports that two state troopers serving a warrant in Pennsylvania Friday were shot. No updates on their condition, but they were said to be “alert and conscious” after the shooting occurred, when one was flown to a nearby hospital while the other was transported by ambulance. (More Cops stories.)

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