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May 8, 2008 11:00 pm US/Eastern
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Police Arrest Third Suspect In Officer's Death
PHILADELPHIA (CBS 3) ―
After days of intense searching, a tip call led police to the third suspect in the fatal shooting of a police officer during a weekend bank robbery.
Eric Floyd, 33, and a female said to be his girlfriend were found inside the second floor of an abandoned home in the Southwest Philadelphia section late Wednesday evening, police said.
Sources said a retired FBI agent received a call from a former informant who notified him of Floyd's location. The agent contacted police, who rushed to a home in the 5400 block on Windsor Avenue.
Floyd was taken into custody without incident at about 11 p.m. and arrived at Police Headquarters in a 24th Police District wagon at about 12:18 a.m.
"We should all breathe a huge sigh of relief that this person is off the streets, he will be brought to justice," Mayor Michael Nutter said. "He will face prosecution and of course, he will have to pay a price for what he did."
Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey said Floyd was locked in the handcuffs of 39-year-old Sergeant Stephen Liczbinski, who was killed after a shootout in the Port Richmond section of the city on May 3.
Arresting officer Captain Daniel Castro said Floyd showed no emotion as he was taken into custody.
"He was like a rat in a hole and we found him. There was nowhere on this great Earth that he was going to hide. We found him, he's arrested, he's ours now," Castro said.
Nutter said he was two feet away as Floyd was taken from the van. "I had to look in the face of a guy who would do something like that, and quite frankly as one African-American male to another, just tell him how disappointed I was in what he had done," he said.
"I looked him dead in his eye and said, 'I'm disappointed in you.' And then I asked the officers to take him away," Nutter said. "He had no reaction. He was caught."
Sources said Floyd has confessed to his involvement, but he said he did not fire the deadly shot.
According to police, the female companion with Floyd has been charged with obstruction of justice and other crimes for allegedly hindering the apprehension of Floyd.
Sgt. Liczbinski, a 12-year veteran with the 24th District and married father of three, was ambushed as he confronted three suspects on the 2600 block of Schiller Street following the robbery of a nearby Bank of America.
Police said one of the suspects opened fire with an assault rifle, fatally wounding Sgt. Liczbinski before he could draw his weapon.
In a second confrontation a short time later, officers fatally wounded one suspect, identified as 33-year-old Howard Cain of North Philadelphia. A second suspect, 38-year-old Levon Warner, was arrested Sunday and charged with murder, robbery, conspiracy and related offenses.
A reward for information leading to the capture of Floyd, the third suspect in the shooting, had grown to over $150,000.
A viewing for Sergeant Liczbinski was held at the Givnish Funeral Home on Academy Road in Northeast Philadelphia on Thursday evening. A second viewing will be held at the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul beginning at 7:30 a.m. Friday followed by a noon funeral mass.
DONATE: Liczbinski Family Trust Fund
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)