Officer Involved Shooting in Tarpon Springs Leaves Suspect Dead
Update May 7, 2017 – 5:30 p.m
25 year-old Nicholas A Provenza of Palm Harbor was identified as the subject that died after being shot by a Tarpon Springs Police Officer on Saturday.
Charles Provenza, the father of Nicholas was notified by FDLE. TSPD reports they never had prior contact with Nicholas.
No other information was released regarding the identity of the officer involved or if a knife was recovered.
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Shortly after 1:30 p.m., fire rescue units were dispatched to reports of a shooting in Tarpon Springs.
The shooting took place in the area of Tarpon Ave and Stafford Avenue which is just east of Pinellas Avenue.
The shooting happened at the 9th Annual “Drive Away Breast Cancer” Car Show being held at the location.
A witness reports that the male subject was looking at cars then became involved in a confrontation with a Tarpon Springs Police officer.
According to Tarpon Springs Police, at approximately 1:32 p.m., a Tarpon Springs Police Department patrol officer who was working an Off-Duty event (Car Show) downtown was advised by visitors of a suspicious man riding a bike wearing an orange jacket with the hood pulled over his head in the area of Tarpon Ave and Safford Ave.
The officer upon making contact with this individual at the intersection of Tarpon/Safford called out over the radio that he was out with the subject and was provided a name and date of birth which did not come back with anything, the Officer advised that he gave him a fake name.
He provided another last name which the officer gave over the radio, then there was silence an then the officer came over the radio stating “Shots Fired”, “Shots
Fired”, “Shots Fired” then the officer advised over the radio “He came at me with a knife”.
The suspect was transported to Florida Hospital North Pinellas where at 2:26 p.m. he was pronounced deceased. The officer was not injured during this incident. Numerous witnesses are being interviewed about the incident.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement was notified and will be handling the investigation into the officer involved shooting with assistance from the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office Forensics unit.
Neither the name of the suspect nor the officer involved is being released at
this time.
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