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TRENTON, Fla. (AP) — The Latest on the shooting deaths of two Florida sheriff's deputies on Thursday (all times local):
11:30 a.m.
Authorities in Florida say the man who shot two sheriff's deputies to death at a restaurant earlier this week had entered the establishment before firing the weapon.
Earlier reports had said the Gilchrest County deputies were shot through a window from the outside the restaurant in Trenton, west of Gainesville.
Gilchrest County deputies Sgt. Noel Ramirez and Deputy Taylor Lindsey were killed at the Ace China restaurant. Officials say 58-year-old John Hubert Highnote of Bell shot them before killing himself.
Levy County Lt. Scott Tummond said at a news conference Friday that the shooter entered the restaurant and immediately opened fire, leaving the deputies with no time to react.
Authorities in neighboring counties have been acting as public information officers on behalf of Gilchrist County.
Tummond said the Gilchrist County Sheriff's Office had no previous interaction with Bell.
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Authorities say two Florida sheriff's deputies were shot dead through the window of a Chinese restaurant by a man who then killed himself.
The shooter's motive wasn't immediately known, but the sheriff blamed Thursday's killings on hatred toward law enforcement in society.
Gilchrist County Sheriff Bobby Schultz says law enforcement has been "demonized" by "every type of hate," and all his deputies were guilty of was "wanting to protect you and me."
The slain deputies were Sgt. Noel Ramirez and Deputy Taylor Lindsey. President Donald Trump called them "HEROES" in a tweet sharing his condolences.
They were killed at the Ace China restaurant in Trenton, a community west of Gainesville.
The shooter was identified late Thursday as 58-year-old John Hubert Highnote of Bell, a small town just up the road.
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This story corrects the most recent entry to Levy, not Alachua, County.
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