Officer Down!

[LWM]

Manhunt on for killer of veteran Phoenix PD sergeant
by Kevin Tripp, KTAR.com (October 19th, 2010 @ 12:16pm)



PHOENIX -- A search is on for the killer of a veteran Phoenix police sergeant, shot while on patrol in the state Capitol area.

The dead officer was identified Tuesday as 35-year-old Sgt. Sean Drenth, who has been on the force for 12 years and worked as a patrolman and on the neighborhood enforcement team.

Drenth worked in the South Mountain and Squaw Peak Precincts and was awarded the Phoenix Police Department's Medal of Valour in 2003 when he rescued trapped residents in a burning two-story apartment building.

Investigators are trying to determine what Drenth was doing in the minutes before he was shot to death Monday night about a block from the State Capitol building.

Capitol Police found Drenth near his patrol car, about 11 p.m. Monday. They had joined the search after city police put out an alert that they had not heard from the officer.

The sergeant, whose name was not released, was working alone in the Capitol area west of downtown Phoenix at the time of the shooting.

Investigators said they had no information on whether the officer had stopped someone or what was going on just before the shooting. They hoped to obtain surveillance video from nearby businesses.

Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon went to the scene after getting the call about 11 p.m. Monday.

"A great officer was killed protecting us in the line of duty," Gordon told Fox 10 News. "He loved his job. I know him."

Sgt. Trent Crump said everyone in the department was upset.

"These are difficult times and everybody who's working this will try to put aside those feelings, investigate this, do the job that we do out here."

He added, "We have a lot of officers and a great support group. And that support group has responded out here this morning to be with family, to be with friends. A lot of officers who have come out here this morning are here in support of other officers, colleagues, friends."

Crump told 3TV that police but out broadcasts when they were unable to locate the sergeant late Monday.