ONE DEAD, OFFICER SHOT IN POMPANO BEACH

POMPANO BEACH -- A 23-year-old man suspected of being involved in
illicit activity was approached Saturday afternoon by three Broward
Sheriff's deputies and shot and killed, the Broward Sheriff's Office
said.

The man was identified as Raymond Lawson, 23, of Fort Lauderdale, said
Broward Sheriff's spokesman Hugh Graf. A deputy also wounded in the
incident was identified as Deputy Edwin Gomez, 30, a five-year-veteran
of the Sheriff's Office, Graf said. The two other officers were not
immediately identified.

It was not clear who fired the shot or shots that wounded Gomez, Graf
said. The incident began when deputies driving in the 200 block of
Northwest 11th Street spotted suspicious activity in what Graf
described as a "known drug-dealing area."

Graf said the deputies approached Lawson and perhaps one other suspect
in a gray older model Crown Victoria. Lawson had a handgun, Graf said.

At least one deputy drew his gun and "a number of rounds" were fired.
Graf said he did not know the full circumstances, but that the deputy
"would not have opened fire if he didn't feel his life was in danger"

At some point, Gomez was shot in the upper left arm and shoulder, Graf
said. Backup units were summoned at 4:20 p.m. with the report that a
deputy had been shot, Graf said. Gomez was transported to the North
Broward Medical Center where he underwent surgery, Graf said. A crowd
of about 50 neighbors looked on as police cordoned off the one-level
fourplex where the Crown Victoria sat in the driveway. Graf said
Lawson died in the front seat of the car.

It was the Sheriff's Office's third deputy-involved shooting this year
in which a suspect was killed. On March 5, authorities say Junior
Desa, 31, was shot by deputies as he threatened a roommate with a
knife in his Deerfield Beach apartment. On June 14, a sergeant shot
Michael Lee Taylor once during an attempt to arrest the 19-year-old on
a murder warrant. Taylor died, though it was unclear who fired the
killing shot because he had two gunshot wounds.

No other Broward police agency this year has fatally shot a suspect,
according to records.