BRADENTON, Florida — Two Bradenton police officers were taken to hospital early on Sunday, November 8, one of them with serious injuries, after a man they were responding to at a Wawa convenience store struck them with his vehicle and fled, setting off a shooting, a multi-agency pursuit toward the Sunshine Skyway Bridge and a final crash back in downtown Bradenton, the Bradenton Police Department (BPD) said in a news release.
Source: Tampa Bay 28 (ABC Action News)
The incident began shortly after 3:20 a.m. on Sunday, when officers responded to the Wawa at First Street and Sixth Avenue East, in downtown Bradenton, following a report of a man with a gun harassing customers, according to the police release. Police have not said whether a firearm was recovered, and the original gun report remains unverified. What happened next, police say, turned a harassment call into an attack on officers within moments.
Struck while trying to leave — and shots fired
As the suspect tried to leave the scene, he struck two officers with his vehicle, police said. Both officers were hospitalized, and one of them suffered serious injuries. The department has not released the officers' names, their ages or service records, or the hospitals treating them, and it has not given a condition update for the second officer beyond confirming the hospitalization.
Two additional officers fired at the suspect's vehicle during the incident, according to police. No one was struck by the gunfire, police accounts indicate — the injuries to the officers came from the vehicle itself, and the suspect's injuries came later, in the crash that ended the pursuit. The shooting by officers is one of the central facts the state investigation will now examine.
Pursuit toward the Skyway — and back
The suspect drove toward the Sunshine Skyway Bridge — the towering I-275 span that carries traffic over the mouth of Tampa Bay from Manatee County toward St. Petersburg — before turning back toward Bradenton, police said. Officers pursued him with assistance from the Manatee County Sheriff's Office and the Florida Highway Patrol, the state agency that polices Florida's highways. The pursuit ended when the suspect crashed near First Street and 10th Avenue West in Bradenton, a few blocks west of where the incident began.
Source: WTSP 10 Tampa Bay
Police said the suspect was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries after the crash. He has not been publicly named, and no charges had been announced as of Sunday morning. Police have also not said what vehicle he was driving, how long the pursuit lasted, or whether anyone else was hurt at the store or along the pursuit route. A police photograph released from the scene shows the Wawa forecourt closed off with crime-scene tape in the dark early hours, patrol vehicles inside the cordon and the store's fuel court empty.
Why the state has taken over the investigation
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) is responding to investigate the incident, the department said, and the investigation remains active. It is standard practice in Florida for FDLE — the state's investigative agency — to lead the inquiry when local officers have fired their weapons, so that the shooting is examined by investigators from outside the department involved. Its findings in officer-involved shootings are typically turned over to the local State Attorney's Office, which decides whether the use of force was lawful. Separately, the suspect faces the prospect of criminal charges arising from the alleged striking of the officers and the flight itself; Florida law treats fleeing from police and using a vehicle against an officer as serious felony conduct, though prosecutors had announced no specific charges as of publication.
The suspect's name and charges; whether a gun was found, as the original call reported; the names and updated conditions of the two hospitalized officers; and how fast and how far the pursuit ran before the crash at First Street and 10th Avenue West. Police say the investigation is active and more information is expected.
What this means locally — and what happens next
Bradenton is the county seat of Manatee County, on Florida's Gulf Coast south of Tampa, and the Wawa at First Street and Sixth Avenue East sits on one of the downtown corridors residents use around the clock — a 24-hour store is often the only lit, staffed place on the street at 3:20 a.m., which is why a report of an armed man harassing customers drew an immediate multi-officer response. For the two hospitalized officers and their families, Sunday begins a wait for medical updates the department has promised through its releases. For drivers, the First Street corridor around the store and the crash scene was a police scene through the early hours, and residents may see continued police activity in the area while FDLE investigators work.
Next steps are now procedural and public: FDLE investigators will reconstruct the store encounter, the shots fired and the pursuit; BPD is expected to release the suspect's name and charges once he is medically cleared and booked; and the department is expected to update the officers' conditions. Awaaz Punjab will update this story when the suspect is named, charges are announced, or the officers' conditions change.