Duty Death: Charles Kondek - [Tarpon Springs]
End of Service: 21/12/2014
By Howard Altman
Tampa Tribune
TARPON SPRINGS, Fla. — A police officer was shot and killed early this morning in Tarpon Springs, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office.
The officer was identified as 45-year-old Charles Kondek, a father of five and an 18-year veteran of the Tarpon Springs police department, Pinellas County sheriff Bob Gualtieri said.
A male suspect is in custody, but his identification has not been released, Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Cecilia Barreda said.
The shooting happened around 3 a.m. outside the Villa Plumosa condominiums, 199 Grand Boulevard, Barreda said. Kondek responded to a call for service at the condominiums shortly after 2 a.m. and was outside of his car when the shooting occurred, Tarpon Springs police said.
The suspect fled in a car before crashing into a pole at Athens and Cross streets, deputies said. He then tried to run but was apprehended, deputies said.
Tarpon Springs officers and Tarpon Springs Fire Rescue worked to keep Kondek alive at the scene before he was transported to Florida Hospital North Pinellas, where he died, police said.
The crime scene area overlooks Spring Bayou in what is considered an affluent area of Tarpon Springs.
Evelyn Bilirakis, wife of former congressman Mike Bilirakis, lives on Springs Boulevard, across Orange Street from the scene. She said she heard gunshots at about 2:30 a.m.
“I went out on our porch upstairs but I didn’t see anything” Bilirakis said. “This is terrible. We’ve been here 15 years and there’s never been anything like this. This is a very good neighborhood.”
There are several small yellow markers near the shooting site as investigators continue to work. Authorities have blocked off Orange Street with yellow crime scene tape along both sides of the street.
The sheriff’s office is leading the investigation with assistance from the Tarpon Springs Police Department and other agencies.
Meanwhile, media from around the country are calling for information in the wake of the execution-style killings of two New York Police Department officers in Brooklyn, deputies said. Gualtieri said there is no indication at this time that the Tarpon Springs shooting is related to what happened in New York.
Kondek’s wife works for the Pasco County Clerk of Courts, deputies said. He has five children, the youngest of which is 15, deputies said. Kondek lived in the Spring Hill area, Gualtieri said.
He is originally from the New York area and served with the NYPD before moving to Florida, according to a Tarpon Springs Police news release. His father is a retired NYPD officer, deputies said.
The shooting is the first fatal shooting of a Tarpon Springs police officer in the line of duty since 1926, and the first officer killed in the line of duty since 1969, when an officer died in a traffic accident, according to Joe Vockerichian, executive director of the Gold Shield Foundation, which provides funds to families of officers killed on duty.
Another Tarpon Springs officer was shot and killed in 1921, Vockerichian said.
The Gold Shield Foundation will present the officer’s family with a check for $5,000 immediately after arrangements are made with the sheriff’s office, said Vockerichian. If Kondek’s children are in school, the foundation will also help with their education, he said.
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