TARPON SPRINGS -- Police have released the name of the suspect they say pointed an airsoft rifle at officers and others in downtown Tarpon Springs... and ended up getting shot to death.
Chief Jeff Young has identified him as 17-year-old Alexander King, an 11th-grade student at Tarpon Springs High School. Young says officers responded to numerous 9-1-1 calls on Saturday for reports of someone pointing a military-style rifle at people in the area of Alternate 19 and Tarpon Ave. Young says King then turned the rifle on officers and charged it--at which point they opened fire. The chief says the investigation into the incident is already underway.
Young says King has had 22 different interactions with Tarpon Springs and other Pinellas County law enforcement agencies, including two felony arrests. The officers involved are on paid administrative leave while the Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigates the shooting.
Photo: Tarpon Springs Police Dept.