Shooting Between Hotel Robbery Suspect and Cops

[kellyhound]

ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. Nov 15 2007 Altamonte Springs police foiled an attempted hotel robbery by two armed men. Police said the men tried to pull off a robbery at Remington Inn and Suites on Douglas Avenue.

When Mike Solitro arrived at work ahead of his son at 7:15am, he found himself on the edge of a shoot out.

"There was a lot of shots ringing off," he said.

Moments earlier, Altamonte Springs police responded to a call of a suspicious person with a gun at the hotel across the street. Officers followed a red Ford Focus from the parking lot and pulled over the car. That's when, eyewitnesses said, 34-year-old Franklin Ortiz Castro opened fire with a large-caliber handgun.

"The subject fired shots at our officer. Our officer was justified at this point in returning fire. The officer, Mike Lavoie a 9-year veteran, was not hit," explained Cpl. Allen Greene, Altamonte Springs Police Department.

Castro was wounded. Joshua Lopez, 21, made a dash for a nearby building, police said. That's when Solitro helped his son take Lopez down.

"After the shooting stopped, I was watching the officer. My son was in the hallway and pulled this guy out as I assisted him," Solitro said. "We took him to the ground and it was within moments the sheriffs were everywhere."

Lopez was questioned and arrested. Castro was transported to Orlando Regional Medical Center with undetermined injuries.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is leading the investigation, which is the normal course of action in an officer-involved shooting.

While subduing Lopez, Solitro drew a handgun, but he didn't fire it. He does have a permit to carry a concealed weapon.

[chris]

Didn't even know this happened. This is not to far from me. Actually my lawyer, Larry Walters, has his office right on that road.