The man arrested for killing a police officer in Tarpon Springs, Florida, at approximately 2 a.m. on Sunday is a 23-year-old convicted felon who was wanted for violating probation, the Tampa Bay Times reports. The suspect, Marco Antonio Parilla Jr., allegedly shot at officer Charles Kondek seven times outside an apartment complex after Kondek responded to a complaint about loud music playing from Parilla’s car. The Times writes that Parilla had come to the apartment complex because he believed one of its residents had reported him to the police for drug activity:
He and a girlfriend drove in to Glen’s Eureka Apartments, a small building at 199 Grand Blvd., shortly after 2 a.m. The buildings, where Parilla once lived, are just northeast of Spring Bayou, the site of Tarpon Springs’ annual Epiphany celebration in early January.
Loud music blared from their white Hyundai Elantra. A resident called police to complain.
Parilla banged on the doors of his former neighbors. He was walking back to the Hyundai when he encountered Officer Kondek.
“He saw the officer,” [sheriff Bob] Gualtieri said. “He knew he was a convicted felon, knew he had a warrant out on him, knew he was going back to prison for a long time.”
Parilla was caught after a short car chase.
Kondek was shot some 12 hours after officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos were killed in New York City by a man who wrote on Instagram that he planned to murder police officers, apparently in retaliation for the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown. There have not been any reports that Parilla had similar motivations.
In Georgia, a man who had shot at police officers was found dead early Monday after an overnight standoff; it’s not clear whether he committed suicide or was killed by SWAT team members. The man’s identity and motivation for attacking officers are as of yet unknown, though he was reportedly “suicidal.”
