Jan 17 (Reuters) - A Florida man suspected of killing an Orlando policewoman was captured on Tuesday wearing body armor and carrying two handguns, and was locked into the slain officer’s handcuffs after arrest, authorities said.
Markeith Loyd, 41, was captured in Orlando after the shooting of Master Sergeant Debra Clayton on Jan. 9 triggered an intense manhunt. She was shot as police sought Loyd for the December murder of his pregnant former girlfriend.
Orlando Police Chief Police John Mina said officers had surrounded an abandoned home with Loyd inside on Tuesday evening. He emerged in body armor carrying two handguns, one of them a Glock with a 100-round magazine, and surrendered after resisting arrest, Mina said.
“Great police work got this cop killer off the street,” Mina told a news conference, adding that local, state and federal officers had worked round the clock to crack the case.
Loyd was placed in Clayton's handcuffs, a move that Mina said was part of police tradition. He said officers broke down in tears on hearing he had been captured.
Online video footage showed Loyd, his face bloodied and eyes swollen, being hustled into police headquarters by sheriff's deputies and police, some of them masked. "They beat me up," he shouted to reporters outside the building.
Clayton, a decorated 17-year veteran of the Orlando Police Department, was shot while responding to a sighting of Loyd at a Walmart store.
She exchanged fire with Loyd, who was wearing body armor and continued to fire when Clayton was down, police have said. Clayton died at a hospital and was posthumously promoted to lieutenant.
Loyd fled the shooting scene in a car and fired at a deputy who tried to the stop him, authorities said. The deputy was unharmed.
The U.S. Marshals Service placed Loyd on its list of 15 most-wanted fugitives on Tuesday.
An Orange County sheriff's deputy in the manhunt for Loyd was killed in a collision last week between his motorcycle and a van.
Mina said investigations would continue into how Loyd was able to evade police in recent weeks. Police have said three people were arrested in Florida on charges of having helped Loyd avoid capture.
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