No need to guess<\/p>\n
13-year-old \u2018hardened criminal\u2019 on probation shoots cop during gun battle<\/a><\/p>\n<span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>A 13-year-old boy described by authorities as a \u201chardened criminal\u201d with \u201cno regard for life\u201d shot a police officer during a foot chase in Florida \u2014 and was wounded in the exchange of fire.<\/p>\n<p>The gun battle unfolded after 5 p.m. Wednesday in the city of Lakeland as police officer Jamie Smith, formerly of the NYPD, was responding to a 911 call reporting a drive-by shooting a couple of blocks from Simpson Park.<\/p>\n<p>Smith spotted the white Dodge Avenger mentioned on the call and pursued it in his patrol vehicle until the car stopped and three teens jumped out and took off running.<\/p>\n<p>One of the suspects was seen brandishing a gun, Lakeland Police Chief Sam Taylor said during a press conference.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Smith, who has served on the force in Lakeland for two years after being recruited from New York, followed the armed suspect, later identified by the police chief as 13-year-old Wesley Dalmas.<\/p>\n<p>Smith\u2019s body camera video that was released overnight shows the cop running after Dalmas through the Carrington Place Apartments.<\/p>\n<p>Smith repeatedly orders the teen to stop and drop his weapon, but Dalmas refuses to comply.<\/p>\n<p>As the officer rounds a corner, he runs into Dalmas crouching in wait for him. The teen points his Taurus 9mm semi-automatic handgun and shoots at Smith three times, as seen in the bodycam footage.<\/p>\n<p>Three suspects in Lakeland police shooting<br \/>\nWesley Dalmas (center), 13, is accused of shooting Lakeland, Florida, police officer Jamie Smith in the foot during a chase Wednesday involving the boy and his two cohorts, Jermaine Julian and Leonard Speight Jr.<br \/>\nLakeland pd.<br \/>\nTaylor said Smith was struck in the left foot and returned fire, but Dalmas managed to get away.<\/p>\n<p>The wounded officer called for backup and continued the pursuit despite his injury.<\/p>\n<p>Other officers who rushed to the scene caught up with Dalmas, who Taylor said tried to flee and opened fire on them.<\/p>\n<p>During the gun battle, the 13-year-old was shot in the stomach, leg and thigh. He was taken to Tampa General Hospital, where he was treated and released.<\/p>\n<p>Smith was administered first aid by his colleagues and taken to Lakeland Regional Medical Center to be treated for the gunshot wound and broken bones in his foot.<\/p>\n<p>Taylor said he was expected to be released home in the coming days.<\/p>\n<p>Taylor hailed his officer\u2019s actions during the pursuit as \u201cnothing short of heroic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd also spoke at the press conference and revealed that Dalmas had been arrested back in January in connection with a car burglary, during which he stole a gun, reported the local outlet Lkldnow.com.<\/p>\n<p>The youngster had been given probation instead of a prison sentence in that case, which Judd said he did not \u201cappreciate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The sheriff said Dalmas and his two cohorts, who were on probation at the time of Wednesday\u2019s incident, were smoking marijuana and driving around Lakeland \u201clooking for someone to shoot.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe has no regard for life. None. Zero,\u201d said Judd. \u201cHe may be 13 years old chronologically, but he\u2019s a hardened criminal willing to shoot it out with cops.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Authorities are asking prosecutors to charge him as an adult with attempted murder of a law enforcement officer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe entered into adult criminal activity and we\u2019re going to treat it like an adult doing violent felonious criminal activity,\u201d Judd said.<\/p>\n<p>Taylor said his detectives are working to determine whether Dalmas is a gang member or associate, saying there is \u201csome indication\u201d that the teen might have gang ties.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s 13 years old. Unbelievable. What are we doing?\u201d Taylor said. \u201cA 13-year-old that has an arrest history and also has the fortitude and anger inside of him to point a handgun at a police officer, but not only point that handgun but take a shot at a police officer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dalmas\u2019 two alleged accomplices, Jermaine Julian, 19, and Leonard Speight Jr., 14, were also arrested.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>No need to guess 13-year-old \u2018hardened criminal\u2019 on probation shoots cop during gun battle \ufeff A 13-year-old boy described by authorities as a \u201chardened criminal\u201d with \u201cno regard for life\u201d shot a police officer during a foot chase in Florida \u2014 and was wounded in the exchange of fire. The gun battle unfolded after 5 … <a href=\"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=92737\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> “”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-92737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-crime"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=92737"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92737\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":92738,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92737\/revisions\/92738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=92737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=92737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=92737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>A 13-year-old boy described by authorities as a \u201chardened criminal\u201d with \u201cno regard for life\u201d shot a police officer during a foot chase in Florida \u2014 and was wounded in the exchange of fire.<\/p>\n<p>The gun battle unfolded after 5 p.m. Wednesday in the city of Lakeland as police officer Jamie Smith, formerly of the NYPD, was responding to a 911 call reporting a drive-by shooting a couple of blocks from Simpson Park.<\/p>\n<p>Smith spotted the white Dodge Avenger mentioned on the call and pursued it in his patrol vehicle until the car stopped and three teens jumped out and took off running.<\/p>\n<p>One of the suspects was seen brandishing a gun, Lakeland Police Chief Sam Taylor said during a press conference.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Smith, who has served on the force in Lakeland for two years after being recruited from New York, followed the armed suspect, later identified by the police chief as 13-year-old Wesley Dalmas.<\/p>\n<p>Smith\u2019s body camera video that was released overnight shows the cop running after Dalmas through the Carrington Place Apartments.<\/p>\n<p>Smith repeatedly orders the teen to stop and drop his weapon, but Dalmas refuses to comply.<\/p>\n<p>As the officer rounds a corner, he runs into Dalmas crouching in wait for him. The teen points his Taurus 9mm semi-automatic handgun and shoots at Smith three times, as seen in the bodycam footage.<\/p>\n<p>Three suspects in Lakeland police shooting<br \/>\nWesley Dalmas (center), 13, is accused of shooting Lakeland, Florida, police officer Jamie Smith in the foot during a chase Wednesday involving the boy and his two cohorts, Jermaine Julian and Leonard Speight Jr.<br \/>\nLakeland pd.<br \/>\nTaylor said Smith was struck in the left foot and returned fire, but Dalmas managed to get away.<\/p>\n<p>The wounded officer called for backup and continued the pursuit despite his injury.<\/p>\n<p>Other officers who rushed to the scene caught up with Dalmas, who Taylor said tried to flee and opened fire on them.<\/p>\n<p>During the gun battle, the 13-year-old was shot in the stomach, leg and thigh. He was taken to Tampa General Hospital, where he was treated and released.<\/p>\n<p>Smith was administered first aid by his colleagues and taken to Lakeland Regional Medical Center to be treated for the gunshot wound and broken bones in his foot.<\/p>\n<p>Taylor said he was expected to be released home in the coming days.<\/p>\n<p>Taylor hailed his officer\u2019s actions during the pursuit as \u201cnothing short of heroic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd also spoke at the press conference and revealed that Dalmas had been arrested back in January in connection with a car burglary, during which he stole a gun, reported the local outlet Lkldnow.com.<\/p>\n<p>The youngster had been given probation instead of a prison sentence in that case, which Judd said he did not \u201cappreciate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The sheriff said Dalmas and his two cohorts, who were on probation at the time of Wednesday\u2019s incident, were smoking marijuana and driving around Lakeland \u201clooking for someone to shoot.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe has no regard for life. None. Zero,\u201d said Judd. \u201cHe may be 13 years old chronologically, but he\u2019s a hardened criminal willing to shoot it out with cops.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Authorities are asking prosecutors to charge him as an adult with attempted murder of a law enforcement officer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe entered into adult criminal activity and we\u2019re going to treat it like an adult doing violent felonious criminal activity,\u201d Judd said.<\/p>\n<p>Taylor said his detectives are working to determine whether Dalmas is a gang member or associate, saying there is \u201csome indication\u201d that the teen might have gang ties.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s 13 years old. Unbelievable. What are we doing?\u201d Taylor said. \u201cA 13-year-old that has an arrest history and also has the fortitude and anger inside of him to point a handgun at a police officer, but not only point that handgun but take a shot at a police officer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dalmas\u2019 two alleged accomplices, Jermaine Julian, 19, and Leonard Speight Jr., 14, were also arrested.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>No need to guess 13-year-old \u2018hardened criminal\u2019 on probation shoots cop during gun battle \ufeff A 13-year-old boy described by authorities as a \u201chardened criminal\u201d with \u201cno regard for life\u201d shot a police officer during a foot chase in Florida \u2014 and was wounded in the exchange of fire. The gun battle unfolded after 5 … <a href=\"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=92737\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> “”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-92737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-crime"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=92737"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92737\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":92738,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92737\/revisions\/92738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=92737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=92737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=92737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}