Cop Killer Suspect Captured by Fla. Police

Nov. 7, 2007— -- An intense morning manhunt for a suspect police say killed an elderly sheriff's deputy with his own weapon has ended.

Michael Mazza, 40, was arrested at a pawn shop shortly before 1 p.m. by Hollywood, Fla., police. The capture ended an intense manhunt for Mazza that prompted a lockdown at more than 260 Broward County schools.

It remains unclear whether police are searching for additional suspects who may have served as accomplices.

Mazza escaped in a deputy's vehicle after pushing 76-year-old transport officer Paul Rein from the vehicle and fatally shooting him. Broward County Sheriff Al Lamberti said at a press conference shortly before noon that Ryan had been pronounced dead after he was transported to North Broward Medical Center.

"We've lost another deputy this morning," Lamberti said.

Rein was transporting Mazza, who already faces a pair of life sentences for armed robbery convictions, to the second day of a bank robbery trial when the escape, which Lamberti said may have been planned, occurred.

"We have strong suspicions," Lamberti said. "We don't know for sure that this may have been a preplanned event, and he may have had accomplices."

Authorities recovered the sheriff's van in Fort Lauderdale, about 20 miles from the shooting. Lamberti said that a witness reported to authorities seeing Mazza hail a taxicab to flee the scene.

A man who would not provide his name told The Associated Press that he met Mazza at a different Florida pawn shop and Mazza, who called himself "Tony" and had an injured leg, asked him for a ride. The two reportedly had something to eat at a soup kitchen before going to a second pawn shop, where the man said he went inside, leaving Mazza in the car. On a television set inside the shop, the man saw an image of Mazza, told the manager the suspect was in his car, and called the police.

An intense, multiagency search had begun for Mazza, who was dressed in a suit for his trial when he escaped. Police are unsure how Mazza freed his hands from handcuffs or the location of the Rein's gun -- the same weapon police believe was used to kill the veteran deputy.

Mazza was suffering from a medical condition, Lamberti said, that required him to be transported in a medical van. He may have been using a wheelchair.