SUSPECT KILLED IN DRUG RAID

Those who lived near Dennis Colombo Jr. said he had been a continuing
problem in their quiet, well-trimmed working-class neighborhood on Arthur
Street.

He reportedly threatened neighbors in the unincorporated Palm Beach Gardens
community west of Military Trail and north of Northlake Boulevard, and
frequently drove his motorcycle at full throttle during early-morning
hours. His purple, customized truck blared foundation-rattling rap music,
they said.

They also suspected that a steady stream of visitors arriving at his duplex
at 4830 Arthur St. were buying drugs.

But Palm Beach County sheriff's Organized Crime Bureau agents had more than
suspicions about Colombo's drugs and weapons. Agents said they had been
investigating him since June and had made marijuana buys at his home and
spotted firearms.

Armed with a drug search warrant, they arrived at 8:30 a.m. Friday with the
sheriff's SWAT team, its tank-like vehicle and agents from the U.S. Bureau
of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

Within minutes, Colombo was dead.

When the heavily armed force got there, they said he was smoking a
cigarette in the back yard, but ran into the shingled gray duplex and
barricaded himself.

After the front door was broken open, and a flash-bang stunning device
thrown in, SWAT deputies Trenton Thompson, 31, and Michael Collister, 43,
entered and encountered Colombo with a MAC-10 submachine gun in his hands,
said sheriff's spokesman Paul Miller.

Both deputies fired their weapons. Colombo was dead at the scene, Miller said.

A neighbor who would identify herself only as LaDonna said she was awakened
by a loud bang and saw deputies surround Colombo's house.

She said she got close enough to hear one deputy say to another, "It's OK.
I saw him pull it on you first."

Although additional tests are to be done, Miller said it appeared the
MAC-10 had been altered to fire fully automatic.

When investigators searched Colombo's apartment, they discovered six loaded
clips for the weapon. Clips typically hold 30 rounds, Miller said, adding,
"He was ready for war."

While investigators were searching the home late Friday, they also found
ammunition for .45-caliber, .40-caliber and 9mm weapons, Miller said. The
only other weapon they found was a pellet gun. Agents also discovered about
20 grams of marijuana and drug paraphernalia, such as water pipes, Miller said.

Neither Thompson, with 10 years of service, nor Collister, with 20 years,
had shot suspects before, Miller said.

Both were placed on paid leave while sheriff's detectives conduct a
homicide investigation and an internal probe to determine whether they
followed proper procedures.

A check of internal affairs investigations showed that Collister was
reprimanded for leaving his gun in a restaurant in 1999, but he was cleared
in 1997 after he shot an aggressive pit bull terrier while serving a search
warrant.

Thompson was cleared after a 2000 complaint by a Jupiter man that he was
missing a large sum of money after being taken to the county jail by
Thompson and another deputy.

Miller said Colombo, who has been arrested 14 times in Florida, was a felon.

Had he lived, federal agents would have arrested him for illegal possession
of weapons and, because of his record, he would have been facing 15 years
to life in prison, Miller said.

Joseph Mammino, an army paratrooper who lives across the street from
Colombo, said Colombo refused his repeated requests to turn down his music.

"He has no respect for anyone, including himself," Mammino said.

Sheriff Ed Bieluch said, "If it weren't for the professionalism and high
qualifications of the deputies on the team, there's no question in my mind
that we'd have dead cops and civilians here today. He had a MAC-10 with his
finger on the trigger."