ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - The Latest on officer shooting and hostage situation with children in Orlando (all times local):
4:50 p.m.
A family representative who started a GoFund Me campaign to help cover funeral expenses of the four children killed by a felon while in a standoff with police says the mother is in a state of shock.
Walter Benenati employs the father of the woman, whom police have not identified. Benenati says she also needs to cover expenses to move out of the apartment in Orlando, Florida, where the shootings happened.
Benenati says the oldest hostage was 12-year-old Irayan. He says Irayan loved video games and was an overachiever at school. He says Lillia was a huge Disney fan and the 10-year-old enjoyed being with her friends. He says 6-year-old Aidan had a dinosaur obsession and 22-month-old Dove liked to run.
The woman was the mother of all four children. The suspect, Gary Lindsey, was the father of Aidan and Dove.
Benenati says Lindsey committed “an unspeakable horror.”
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4:30 p.m.
A felon who killed four children during a daylong standoff that started with the shooting of an officer was arrested last month and his probation officer recommended that he be jailed for six months.
But Gary Lindsey had supervised probation reinstated during a hearing several weeks ago.
Lindsey was sentenced to 10 years of supervised probation 10 years ago for burning his home during a dispute with his-then girlfriend.
Court records show an arrest warrant was issued for Lindsey last month for violating the terms of his probation after he was arrested for theft. A probation officer recommended that Lindsey be jailed for six months, but court records show Lindsey’s sister agreed to pay $1,000 and he agreed to pay $300 a month toward restitution. His supervised probation was reinstated.
The court records show Lindsey had been working at an auto center in Orlando.
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11:45 a.m.
Neighbors in the Florida apartment complex where a felon killed four children during a daylong standoff that started with the shooting of an officer described the gunman as both nice and strange.
Nicole Gonzalez said Tuesday that 35-year-old Gary Lindsey came off as polite and friendly. But another neighbor, Miguel Lopez, says interactions with him were weird.
Authorities say the convicted felon was out on probation when he shot and wounded Officer Kevin Valencia late Sunday night. Valencia was responding to a domestic violence call from Lindsey’s girlfriend. He is recovering after surgery and is expected to live.
Authorities say two of the children are believed to be Lindsey’s, while the other two are believed to be the girlfriend’s.
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7 a.m.
Officials in Florida say a medical examiner will determine at what point during a standoff four children were killed by a gunman who also shot a police officer.
A spokeswoman for the Orlando Police Department said Tuesday that the medical examiner, as part of an investigation, will determine when Gary Lindsey shot the four children he was holding hostage. The standoff stretched on for more than 21 hours.
Authorities say the convicted felon was out on probation when he shot and wounded Officer Kevin Valencia late Sunday night. Valencia was responding to a domestic violence call from Lindsey’s girlfriend. He is recovering after surgery and is expected to live.
Authorities say two of the children are believed to be Lindsey’s, while the other two are believed to be the girlfriend’s.
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12:30 a.m.
Orlando authorities say the man who shot a police officer has killed four children he was holding hostage Monday. The children were believed to be ages 1, 6, 10 and 11.
The Orlando Sentinel reports that the gunman also killed himself.
Orlando police Chief John Mina said at a press conference just before midnight that the suspect has been identified as 35-year-old Gary Wayne Lindsey Jr.
Authorities say the convicted felon was out on probation when he shot and wounded Officer Kevin Valencia on Sunday. Valencia was responding to a domestic violence call when he was shot. He is recovering after surgery and is expected to live.
Authorities say two of the children are believed to be Lindsey’s while the others are believed to be the women who called police.
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3:20 p.m.
The police chief of Orlando, Florida, is urging a gunman who shot a police officer to release four children he is holding hostage and peacefully end a standoff that has lasted more than 12 hours.
Orlando Police Chief John Mina said Monday afternoon that police negotiators have been in communication with suspect Gary Lindsey five times since the standoff at an apartment started around midnight.
The children Lindsey is holding hostage range in age from 1 to 12. Some of them are Lindsey’s children and some belong to his girlfriend.
Officers were called to the apartment by his girlfriend because of a domestic dispute. Upon arriving, the officers were fired upon, and Office Kevin Valencia was shot. The police chief says Valencia is expected to survive but he has “very significant injuries.”
Court record shows Lindsey has an extensive criminal history.
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7:10 a.m.
A man believed to have shot a police officer responding to a report of a domestic dispute at an apartment complex in Orlando, Florida, barricaded himself in an apartment with four children in an early-morning standoff that was still unresolved Monday afternoon.
Orlando Police Chief John Mina said the officer was expected to live despite “very significant injuries.”
Officers were called to the Westbrook Apartments near the Universal Orlando Resort theme park resort late Sunday by a woman who said her boyfriend had beaten her. When officers arrived at the apartment, gunfire was exchanged, hitting the officer, Mina said. The police chief said he doesn’t know if the man was shot.
The officer was taken to Orlando Regional Medical Center, where he underwent surgery and was expected to survive. The police chief asked the community for prayers for the officer and his family.
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