ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — When two law officers were shot down while helping to serve a warrant on Florida's Gulf Coast, it stunned a state already mourning police deaths in Miami and added to a grim tally for the nation: 11 officers shot in five states in a 24-hour period, two of them fatally.
For the month, the toll on police came to 14 fatalities, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.
St. Petersburg Police Sgt. Thomas Baitinger and Officer Jeffrey Yaslowitz, were slain Monday while helping other officers serve a warrant on Hydra Lacy Jr., a man with a long criminal history.
The officers' deaths came just four days after two Miami-Dade County detectives were killed by a murder suspect they were trying to arrest. That suspect was killed by another detective.
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