The Orlando Sentinel
EATONVILLE, Fla. — A convicted felon was shot by Eatonville police and arrested Saturday after trying to run down an officer, authorities said.
Lonnie Sheffield, 27, of the Rosemont neighborhood of Orlando, was driving at more than 70 mph when Orange County sheriff’s dispatchers alerted Eatonville police that he was headed their way about 4:15 a.m., interim Eatonville police Chief Joseph Jenkins said.
Officers confronted Sheffield, who was driving a black Lincoln Town Car, after he pulled into the parking lot of Eatonville Home Town Suites on Kennedy Boulevard, the town’s main drag, Jenkins said.
After officers repeatedly asked for identification, they said, Sheffield closed the driver-side door on a sergeant’s hand, put the car in drive and headed toward a detective. Two officers fired 11 .45-caliber rounds, hitting Sheffield once in the left upper arm and once in the left leg. His passenger, Jasmine Love, 19, was shot once in the left leg, the chief said. Both underwent surgery Saturday at Orlando Regional Medical Center.
As the car was being chased by Eatonville and Maitland police, someone threw a 12-gauge shotgun with a pistol grip from passenger’s side of the car, Jenkins said. Police caught up with Sheffield less than two miles away at a convenience store at Orange Blossom Trail and All American Boulevard.
He was arrested on charges of aggravated assault and battery on a law-enforcement officer, according to the Orange County Jail Web site. He also will be held on two misdemeanor warrants when he is released from the hospital. Sheffield has an Orange arrest history dating to January 2000 and was released from prison in March 2006 after serving time on drug charges. No charges have been filed against Love.
The officers involved in the shooting will be on administrative duty while the Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigates.
Copyright 2007 Orlando Sentinel