The suspect in the fatal shooting of an Orlando police officer was captured Tuesday night after eluding a massive manhunt for more than a week, authorities say. Orlando Police Chief John Mina says Markeith Loyd, 41, was flushed out of an abandoned house and taken into custody, ending a manhunt that began with the Jan. 9 killing of Lt. Debra Clayton outside a Walmart store. Local television stations showed Loyd with a bloodied face as a half-dozen officers and deputies took him into police headquarters. Mina tweeted, "Captured and wearing Lt. Debra Clayton's handcuffs," the AP reports. Loyd was wearing body armor and carrying two handguns, one with a 100-round magazine, when he surrendered after a SWAT team surrounded the house in western Orlando, Mina said at a news conference.
Mina denied rumors that the arrest was the result of an anonymous tip, saying that Loyd was captured by the tireless efforts of law enforcement. Before the officer's shooting, authorities had been looking for Loyd for questioning in the death of his pregnant ex-girlfriend, Sade Dixon. Clayton had been tipped off that he was in the area while she was at the store and was shot when she approached Loyd, who then fled. Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings said at the news conference that the arrest is bittersweet, noting that in addition to Clayton, a deputy in his agency, Norman Lewis, died in a traffic crash during the manhunt for Loyd. "I believe that our entire community is going to breathe a sigh of relief at this point," Demings said. "They will sleep better knowing tonight that... this maniac is off the streets." (More Florida stories.)
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