Cops: 'Caged Rat' Shot, Ran Over Florida Officer

Father of 6 killed while investigating noise complaint
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 22, 2014 12:18 AM CST
Cops: 'Caged Rat' Shot, Ran Over Florida Officer
Marco Antonio Parilla Jr., 23, center, is escorted into the Pinellas County Jail after being arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder yesterday.   (AP Photo/The Tampa Bay Times, Douglas R. Clifford)

A Florida man who allegedly told investigators he killed an officer because he felt like a "caged rat" and didn't want to go back to jail now has little hope of ever leaving prison alive. Authorities say Marco Antonio Parilla Jr., 23, who was wanted on a probation violation, was searching an apartment complex in Tarpon Springs early yesterday morning for the person who reported the violation when Officer Charles Kondek arrived to investigate a noise complaint, NBC reports. Parilla allegedly fired seven shots at the officer, hitting him once above his bulletproof vest, and then ran him over as he fled the scene. He was arrested after crashing his car and now faces first-degree murder charges.

Officials in Florida say Parilla got out of prison in March after serving more than two years for various offenses, including drug charges, the AP reports. "His reason for shooting the officer was he 'felt like a caged rat,'" the local sheriff says. "Well, he's going back to prison and he can be a caged rat in prison because that's where he belongs." Kondek, 45, was married with six children and had served five years with the NYPD before joining the Tarpon Springs force 17 years ago. He spent most of his career on the midnight shift, where people he dealt with describe him as pleasant and fair-minded. "I don't always get along with cops, but nobody deserves to die like that," a homeless man who stopped in front of a flower-covered squad car that served as a memorial told the Tampa Tribune. (More Florida stories.)

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