UPDATE: Tampa police have announced Caesar Crockett Jr has been taken into custody following a standoff with police.
TAMPA (WFLA) — The triple homicide suspect at the center of a Georgia and Florida AMBER Alert is in an armed standoff with Tampa police following a high-speed chase a day after abducting a toddler and murdering three of the child’s family members.
Georgia officials issued an AMBER Alert for 2-year-old King Crockett after he was reportedly abducted by his father March 31 in Macon, Georgia. The Bibb County Sheriff’s Office said 29-year-old Caesar Zamien Lamar Crockett Jr. fled with the toddler after shooting and killing three of the child’s family members.
The sheriff’s office said Crockett Jr. got into an altercation with 30-year-old Jamila Augustine French, the child’s mother, Tuesday night around 9:20. During the altercation, deputies said Crockett Jr. pulled out a gun and shot French’s mother, stepfather, and sister, killing them. French did not die, but sustained injuries. Crockett Jr. then reportedly fled the area.
The first sighting of the two after a Georgia AMBER Alert was issued Wednesday morning was near Newberry Road and Interstate 75 in Gainesville, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. An AMBER Alert was then issued in Florida.
The Florida Highway Patrol said Crockett Jr. led police on a high-speed pursuit after he was spotted near Interstate 75 and Fowler Avenue in Tampa. The pursuit reached speeds up to 120 miles per hour, according to FHP, and lasted until Crockett Jr. crashed near the intersection of I-75 and Interstate 4.
FHP said the child was safely recovered and taken into police custody, but Crockett Jr. remains armed and locked inside his vehicle near I-75 and I-4.
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