A crowd of hundreds ambushed Tampa police officers early Saturday morning which resulted in two police officers being injured near the Ybor City neighborhood around 1 a.m.
What We Know:
- Police officers responded to a report of shots fired and a possible victim at around 1 a.m. As officers searched for the possible victim, the crowd blocked all four ends of the intersection and became aggressive.
- According to Chief Brian Duggan, the crowd ambushed Tampa police and threw bottles, glass, and jumped on a police vehicle.
- Ultimately, there was no gunshot victim and it was ruled as a “set-up” to harm police officers.
- FOX news showed aerial footage of the crowd attacking the police.
- Two police officers received injuries and audio footage of officials can be heard stating that one of the two police officers was struck with a bottle.
- Chief Dugan said the following:
““There were hundreds of them. Hundreds. We actually ended up having to call every single police officer that was available that night to respond there, from New Tampa to South Tampa.”
- The Chief of Police Brian Dugan has been widely criticized due to his comments about the Black lives Matter movement and his mentioning of how police officers can not win. Many are supporting the local precinct on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/jeansbluejeans/status/1275299770429513729?s=20
- Ongoing protests are happening all over the world due to police brutality and the death of George Floyd, who was murdered in Minneapolis at the hands of ex-police officer, Derek Chauvin.
- Police Chief Duggan, is pleading residents to “step up and support their cops” and mentioned how police officers have “everyone’s back” but now, “nobody” has their’s.
Tampa police are investigating the incident from Saturday. According to Chief Duggan, 100 police officers responded on the scene and they only arrested 1 person. The two police officers are expected to make a full recovery.
