By Kate Feldman
New York Daily News
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A suspect accused of shooting a Florida sheriff’s deputy during a routine traffic stop was shot and killed Wednesday by a home owner whose house he allegedly broke into.
A Blue Alert, issued when a police officer is shot or killed, was called off Wednesday morning for Gregory Ryan Miedema, 33, hours after he allegedly shot Taylor County Deputy Troy Anderson around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday on U.S. 19 between Tallahassee and Gainesville.
Anderson was airlifted to Shands Hospital in Gainesville in critical condition and is now stable, according to officials.
Miedema fled the scene, launching a 10-hour manhunt that ended in Dixie County.
There, Miedema allegedly broke into a home and was met by the homeowner, who shot him.
Miedema was found dead near the same car listed in the Blue Alert, along with multiple guns, according to police.
The homeowner was hospitalized with minor injuries and has since been released.
“I truly believe he had an evil mindset and his thought process was to kill and destroy innocent people,” Dixie County Sheriff Darby Butler said of Miedema at a press conference Wednesday. “Fortunately, he did not succeed in that.”
Miedema was convicted of one count of lewd or lascivious battery, intercourse with a victim 12 to 15 years old and one count of possession of child pornography in 2011 while serving in the U.S. Army, according to police. He was sentenced to 78 months in federal prison.
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