UCF Officer Mistakenly Shot And Killed By Orlando Police

I guess the retired reserve officer was ******** that this trigger-happy campus cop was ruining his tailgate time. Or maybe he was rooting for the other team? You know how those NCAA rivalries are.

Actually, this makes no sense at all .. except that it happened in Florida.

I'm not going to armchair quarterback this one but are there still departments that train officers to fire warning shots?

I think that the underage drinker should be held reliable for what happen, because if he wasn't acting a fool this wouldn't of happen.

Words can't describe what happen. May the officer rest in peace. Another good officer laid at rest due to a mistake. Do undercover officers wear badges that they can reveal once they approach someone. so if another officer comes by and sees something like this going on he can atleast know that it is an officer? Maybe they should of let him know and told him what the officer would be wearing. Its not like they are going to be undercover for to long once they bust 2 or 3 people. This incident is awful. One officer is down and another has the guilt by making a mistake. Two very sad situations.

Thankd for the link. It really ads more to the story.

God almighty what a Charlie Foxtrot! One good man dead and another will have to live with killing a Brother Officer.

I am sure there are lots of questions about this incident, but we don't know the whole story and should reserve jumping to conclusions. I pray for the families of the Officers involved.

Wings Of A Prayer

Just close your eyes

and open your heart

And feel your worries

and cares depart...

Just yield yourself

to the Father above

And let Him hold you

secure in His love,

For He hears every prayer

and answers each one

When we pray in His name,

"Thy will be done" --

And the burdens that seemed

too heavy to bear

are lifted away

on the wings of prayer

The obvious solution is to ban football games

Eyewitness Describes Scene Of Fatal Police Shooting

POSTED: 3:59 pm EDT September 27, 2005

UPDATED: 9:40 am EDT September 28, 2005

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Channel 9 has a new eyewitness account of the moments before a University of Central Florida police officer was gunned down by an Orlando police officer.

Eyewitness News has learned at least one of the shots fired during the chaos outside the Citrus Bowl on Saturday night hit an RV in the parking lot. Channel 9 talked to a man who said he saw the whole incident clearly, from the warning shots fired by Officer Mario Jenkins to the deadly shots fired by Orlando Police Department officer Dennis Smith.

There has been an outpouring of support at the University of Central Florida police department headquarters and the officers were asking businesses and community members to lower their flags to honor officer Mario Jenkins.

Meanwhile, the investigation into his death continues as new witnesses recount their close brush with the shooting.

"I was actually sitting on the bed and it was right there," said eyewitness Joe Comito.

From the window of his RV, Comito watched two people get shot. He just learned another RV, right next to his, ended up with bullet holes in it.

"That's pretty nerve-racking, 'cause I was right in the back of my RV and that wasn't gonna stop a bullet. So when I heard, it was a little more distressing," Comito said.

But it wasn't as distressing as what he saw through the window. What he now knows was UCF Officer Mario Jenkins was working undercover trying to control a crowd.

"He's already got his gun out, 'cause I heard two shots, and he fires two more shots in the air, and soon as he started shooting in the air, the gentleman came from behind him and kind of grabbed him and tried to get his gun. That's when the gentleman turned and shot him in the stomach. He fell," Comito explained.

Michael Young, 24, had been shot. Comito said, right after that happened, Jenkins waved the gun back around to control the crowd.

"It kind of looked like a random shooter, 'cause from my vantage point I didn't see a badge," Comito said.

Orlando police officer Dennis Smith, who came running up at that moment and fired three shots into Jenkins' back, didn't see a badge either. Comito said any shooting at a football game is unnecessary, but he did see Jenkins in a tough situation.

"When you see someone getting converged on, and he was almost being attacked by a crowd, it's somewhat justifiable at that point too," Comito said.

Those are all things the Florida Department of Law Enforcement was now looking into. They interviewed more than 50 eyewitnesses to piece together exactly what happened, but it will likely be weeks before they finish the investigation.

Under age drinking? I wish we were to the point that we could have an underage drinking task force! An officer died cause some college kids were drinking. What a waste. Is this what our country is coming too, cracking down on tail gate parties? I am all for the use of plainclothes officers, I worked plainclothes as an officer, detective, and sergeant. But in this situation you observe, call in the uniform guys, and then watch their backs. One can not help feel for all the LEO's involved, and damn the politicans who thought this one up. Kinda like the lt. cols. who keep having task forces, like next weeks quality of life task forces all LMPD divisions are required to have.

I hope no officers or citizens get hurt cause an assistant chief who never did any real police work wants another task force to write about in his book on how he successfully merged two large departments.