Radio dispatches give vivid details of St. Pete police shooting

Dawn was breaking when St. Petersburg police officers responded to calls for back-up and converged around the orange house. Sirens wailed in the distance. Helicopters buzzed overhead.

One officer asked dispatchers what was happening inside.

After a burst of radio static came the unsettling reply: "Officer down. We got two officers down. A marshal and one of ours."

Moments later, another officer calls in. "He's still shooting. I need rescue here."

Dispatchers ask him where the shots are coming from.

"Somewhere in the house," the officer says. "I'm not sure. It could be the attic."

After a few minutes, the dispatcher asks, "If anybody is in the house, can you talk to me?"

One of the wounded - it's unclear if it's St. Petersburg K-9 officer Jeffrey Yaslowitz or deputy U.S. Marshal Scott Ley - responds in a ragged whisper.

"Get us out of here."

That brief exchange is part of more than seven hours of radio transmissions between law enforcement and emergency workers on Jan. 24 as fugitive Hydra Lacy Jr. rained gunfire down from a hiding spot in a house at 3734 28th Ave. S.

Shortly after 7 a.m. that day, Yaslowitz and Ley had already been shot as they and a fugitive task force tried to serve a warrant on Lacy, who was wanted for failing to appear in court on a domestic violence charge.

Within the hour, police Sgt. Thomas Baitinger would also be gunned down as he tried to rescue his comrades. As the morning wore on, the radio transmissions offered snippets of sporadic gun battles breaking out, snipers taking positions on neighboring rooftops and robots scanning for movement inside the house.

The St. Petersburg Police Department didn't release the radio calls. The entire ordeal was archived and posted on website RadioReference.com, which also provides live audio of police scanner chatter across the country. Access to the archive requires a $15 basic membership to the site.

Police spokesman Bill Proffitt said the transmissions don't paint a complete picture of what happened and that the raw audio lacks context.

Without an explanation from the agency, Proffitt said he's concerned the incomplete exchanges would cause needless speculation from the public.

Specifics of the case won't be released until the department's internal affairs division and the State Attorney's Office completes separate investigations, police spokesman Mike Puetz said.

There are long gaps in the radio calls posted online. Law enforcement officials, dispatchers and rescue personnel are not identified. Yet some exchanges provide vivid details of the bedlam and urgency that day.

Police say Lacy shot at groups of officers as they tried to enter the house and rescue Yaslowitz and Ley. The radio exchanges mention bullets not only coming through the ceiling, but the roof and windows.

Authorities called in the St. Petersburg Police Tactical and Apprehension Control Team - the city's version of a SWAT team - to bring in ballistic shields to protect them from volleys of gunfire.

"We got a situation here," an officer said. "I need some shields at the front of the house. I need a shield to get these officers out. Let's go."

A dispatcher tries to reach Yaslowitz and Ley again. "We need to know where you are," he says.

A hoarse voice responds: "Bathroom."

When Lacy first opened fire, police say, Yaslowitz remained inside the attic and Ley fell to the first floor. Baitinger was wounded when he went inside the house to get the other two out.

Rescuers were worried that the shooter took one of the officers' guns. "He might have Yaz's weapon," a dispatcher said, referring to Yaslowitz.

Then, the dispatcher mentioned Lacy: "He's moving around the attic."

Police radioed the city fire department and requested a thermal camera to help find the fugitive. Although they couldn't locate him, Baitinger and Ley were evacuated.

"We got two guys out," an officer tells dispatch. "But the bad guy is still in the attic, still firing."

A dispatcher radios back, "Everybody's out but Yaslowitz, confirmed."

Another officer then tries to contact Yaslowitz to see if he's alive.

"Hey Yaz, can you click your radio if you're OK, buddy?"

No answer.

"Hey Yaz, click your radio if you're OK."

Again, no answer.

It wasn't 8 a.m. yet. Hours later, after he was taken out of the house, Yaslowitz was pronounced dead at Bayfront Medical Center. Baitinger also died at the hospital; Ley was shot twice but survived.

In the interim, negotiators attempted to get Lacy on the line. He hung up twice, but apparently called a friend or relative, according to the radio transmissions. Other exchanges documented police trying to clear paths for ambulances and setting up a perimeter around the house if Lacy decided to climb down from the attic and run.

"If he's armed, do what you need to do," one officer told his colleagues. "If he's unarmed, we'll have to take him down."

Lacy never left the attic. Police called in heavy machinery which gashed the house and lifted up the roof to find him.

"When they start moving that house around, we're looking for movement, 10-4?" an officer says.

Just after 2 p.m., after about one-third of the house was destroyed, police found a body in the house. Several hours later, police confirmed it was Lacy's body.