Fla. guard opens fire on feds; gunman and investigator killed

[N. A. Corbier]

So were they Private Security Guards or Federal Corrections Officers? I never have liked the way the media called Corrections Officers "Guards". It confuses things. It's not as bad as when they say Rent-A-Cop instead of Security Officer though.

Duplicate thread. Someone brought up in the other thread that they may be federal corrections officers.

The Media knows better than to call a Corrections Deputy a "guard." The Sheriff will demand a retraction, as he has deputy sheriffs, not jail guards. This is most likely a private corrections officer (A Class D Security Officer working for a private corrections company) or even a federal correctional officer.

[EMTGuard]

So were they Private Security Guards or Federal Corrections Officers? I never have liked the way the media called Corrections Officers "Guards". It confuses things. It's not as bad as when they say Rent-A-Cop instead of Security Officer though.

[dla4122]

Fla. guard opens fire on feds; gunman and investigator killed

A guard started a gunfight inside a federal prison Wednesday as FBI agents tried to arrest him and five others accused of trading alcohol and pot for sex with female inmates, officials said. When the shooting was over, two people were dead and another was wounded.

The gunman and a Justice Department investigator were killed in the exchange of gunfire, and a prison employee helping with the arrest was hospitalized, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The victims' names and the condition of the survivor were not immediately released.

The six guards were indicted by a grand jury Tuesday on charges alleging, among other things, that they exchanged contraband such as alcohol, drugs and money for sex with female inmates over a two-year period and used it to buy inmates' silence.

When FBI agents and Justice Department investigators arrived at the center Wednesday morning to arrest the six men, one of the indicted guards shot a federal correctional institution officer, said FBI spokesman John Girgenti. He said the officers fired back.

The agents were not expecting the prison guards to be armed, the law enforcement official told the AP, though he could not immediately explain why.

The official said the guard fired with a personal weapon, wounding the Bureau of Prisons employee who was assisting with the arrest. Agents from the Justice Department's inspector general's office returned fire, killing the guard, the official said, adding that a Justice Department agent was killed in the exchange. It wasn't immediately clear who fired that fatal shot.

"The community is safe. The institution is in lockdown status," federal Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman Carla Wilson said.

The detention center houses mostly men and is part of the Tallahassee Federal Correctional Institution. A low security prison for female inmates is next to the detention center. Together the men's and women's units total 1,445 inmates.

The indictment accused five of the six guards of having sexual contact with eight inmates from September 2003 through September 2005 in exchange for contraband, which could include alcohol, drugs and money.

They guards also were accused of threatening to plant contraband in inmates' belongings or have them shipped to other facilities farther from their families if they reported the illegal activity.

According to the indictment, the guards showed inmates information about themselves and other prisoners on the prison system's computer system to prove their threats were real and that they could be tracked anywhere in the system. It said the guards switched duty assignments to arrange trysts with the female inmates.

Tallahassee police sent every available squad car to the prison at about 7:45 a.m. after receiving a 911 call, spokesman John Newland said.

Associated Press writer Mark Sherman in Washington contributed to this report.