In Pennsylvania last month what seemed like a routine DUI arrest turned deadly in an instant when a man grabbed a police officer's gun in a local emergency room, killing one of the police officers on the scene and wounding the other.
A hospital employee was also critically wounded in the incident.
Thousands of mourners attended the funeral service for slain Newtown Borough Police Officer Brian S. Gregg. As people quietly sobbed or just stared ahead in disbelief, the Pennsylvania State Police and Philadelphia P.D. aviation units flew overhead. His body was taken for burial in a horse-drawn hearse.
Officer Gregg was shot three times in the head in the emergency room of St. Mary's Medical Center in Langhorne, Pennsylvania by Robert Anthony Flor, a 38-year-old Bedminster Township, PA resident with a long and violent criminal background.
Officer Greg had arrested Flor for drunk driving and assaulting his girlfriend. Gregg took Flor to the Newtown Borough police station to wait until his partner, James Warunek, could ride with him to the hospital for blood and urine tests for the suspect. Flor's handcuffs had been removed so the procedures could be performed.
After the tests were complete, Flor, who up until that time had been quiet and cooperative, grabbed Officer Warunek's .357 Smith & Wesson and opened fire. He shot himself in the hand and Warunek in the chest, but not fatally. Flor then shot emergency room technician Joseph Epp in the shoulder. He then turned and fired two shots at Gregg.
One hit the officer in his stomach. That bullet was stopped by his body armor. Flor then walked up to the downed officer shouting "F---- you," as he fired a bullet point blank into his head.
"It was an execution,'' sad Bucks County Chief Deputy District Attorney, Gary Gambardella, said at a press conference.
The gunman then fled the hospital, firing a round at Officer Warunek as he left.
The hospital went into lockdown mode and police started a search for the shooter. The manhunt lasted up to an hour and included about 100 police officers, three tactical teams and several helicopters. Flor was found hiding in the back seat of a car on the roof of the hospital's parking garage, police said.
The trail of blood from his wound helped point police in the right direction.
After a brief struggle that included the use of a flash bomb device and a police dog, Flor was taken into custody.
He was charged with murder, attempted murder, aggravated assault and related charges and sent to Bucks County Prison without bail. He will face the death penalty if convicted.