MANATEE DEPUTY SHOT DURING NARCOTICS BUST

MANATEE - In January 1990, 8-year-old Tulani Cooper was honored as a
hero, complete with a "Tulani Cooper Day" by Manatee County
commissioners, after he reported an abandoned newborn baby he found in
a trash bin.

On Wednesday, Cooper, now 25 and recently released after serving nine
years in prison for attempted murder, was charged with shooting a
Manatee County sheriff's deputy.

Cooper was one of six men inside the duplex at 4608 27th St. W., about
10 a.m. when a sheriff's office SWAT team tried to make a narcotics
bust.

Authorities say Cooper, who was released from prison in January,
opened fire, hitting Lt. Todd Shear, 34, in the hand and the neck.

SWAT officers returned fire and hit one of the other men inside,
Arnell Elrod, 23, in the leg.

Shear and Elrod were taken to Manatee Memorial Hospital with what were
described as non-life-threatening wounds.

Two other men inside the house, Cooper and Trinidad Hamilton, 24,
immediately dropped their weapons and surrendered. Maurice Hamilton
and Anthony Warrick, both 26, were outside of the residence and were
also arrested.

A sixth suspect escaped.

Quickly, a sheriff's helicopter was hovering overhead and deputies
were laying out a dragnet along 27th Street, Cortez Road and other
nearby streets. But as of late Thursday, the suspect, whose name was
not released, had not been arrested.

"Since the other men were armed, we believe he is armed and
dangerous," said Sheriff Charlie Wells.

The intensive search for the suspect went on for about three hours,
but was unsuccessful.

Cooper was charged with attempted murder of a law enforcement officer.
He and the other suspects were also charged with armed
trafficking.

Cooper, then a second-grader at Wakeland Elementary School, was
declared a local hero in January 1990 when he found the baby, which
was less than 8 hours old, in a bag left in a Dumpster, The Herald
reported. Cooper and a cousin ran to a recreation center to tell an
adult about the baby.

County commissioners declared Jan. 9, 1990, to be "Tulani Cooper
Day."

"The residents of our community are justifiably proud of the actions
of Tulani Cooper," said Commissioner Pat Glass.

In the next seven years, leading up to when he was charged in December
1996 with trying to kill two women during a drug deal, Cooper was
picked up by authorities 46 times in connection with burglaries,
criminal mischief, robberies and other crimes, The Herald reported.

The SWAT team Wednesday had been executing a search warrant for rock
and powder cocaine at the residence when the shots were fired.
Narcotics detectives started investigating the individual suspects
about three months ago and had gathered enough evidence to obtain a
search warrant.

"Thank goodness SWAT was here," said sheriff's spokesman Dave Bristow.
"That's what they're trained to do - to deal with dangerous
situations. And this was definitely a dangerous situation."

Shear has been with the sheriff's office for 10 years and was assigned
to the Child Protective Services Division. Bristow called him a "very,
very, very well-liked" officer.

Bristow said officials know which deputy fired the shots that hit the
suspect Elrod, but his name was not released. A routine internal
review of the shooting was underway, Bristow said.

After the shootout, dozens of onlookers crowded just beyond the crime
scene tape on 47th Avenue West.

Jessica Powers lives a few houses away from the duplex and was
concerned for the safety of her family.

"We were just inside doing yoga and we hear whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop
from a helicopter circling around the house," Powers said. "I have a
little 3-year-old kid and now there's a shootout."

Joe Springer went with Powers to investigate. Both were alarmed to
learn one suspect had escaped.

"Shut my mouth! He got away?" Springer said. "We thought this was a
nice neighborhood. This is crazy!" - Herald reporters Duane Marsteller
and Sylvia Lim contributed to this report. n Arnell Elrod has been
convicted of several drug-related offenses, and was free on $5,000
bond after a June 17 arrest on a cocaine-possession charge.

o Tulani Cooper was 15 years old in 1996 when he was charged with
shooting two women in what authorities said was a drug deal gone bad.
He was convicted of two counts of attempted second-degree murder and
sentenced to 15 years in prison, but spent slightly more than nine
years behind bars. He was released Jan. 9 - exactly 16 years to the
day after Manatee County commissioners proclaimed "Tulani Cooper Day"
in honor of his reporting an abandoned newborn baby he had found in a
trash bin.

o Maurice Hamilton has been convicted of several drug-related
offenses, and was free on bond on charges of marijuana possession and
failure to appear in court on a traffic charge. He also has unpaid
traffic fines that have been turned over to collection agencies.

o Trinidad Hamilton has served time in jail for selling crack cocaine
and has been labeled by the courts as a habitual traffic offender.

o Anthony Warrick has been convicted of several cocaine-related
offenses and was arrested May 4 for habitual traffic violations and
was free on bond, awaiting a September trial.