4 police dispatchers placed on leave after patrol officer was killed in ambush

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Four dispatchers with the Consolidated Dispatch Agency were placed on administrative leave the same day a Tallahassee man ambushed and gunned down Leon County Deputy Chris Smith.

Timothy Lee, director of the city/county agency, in a memo said that the four public-safety communications officers were placed on paid leave pending the outcome of an internal review.

He did not elaborate on the reason but the memo did touch on problems with the agency's "premise hazards and notifications," which are designed to give first responders any pertinent information about an address where they've been sent, including potential known dangers.

Earlier, a man who had made previous threats against police set his house on fire Saturday and ambushed the first sheriff's deputy who responded, fatally shooting the deputy and wounding another before he was killed by a police officer who lives nearby, a law enforcement official said.

The man's name and address had been entered into a law enforcement computer system because of previous threats, the Associated Press reports, but instead, the 911 dispatcher who entered the fire call put in the address of a neighbor who reported the blaze, so the alert wasn't activated and the Leon County Sheriff's Deputy Christopher Smith who responded first had no warning, said the official.

The gunman was hiding outside the house when Smith approached about 10:15 a.m., the official said. He shot the deputy from behind, shot him again after he fell and then took the deputy's gun.

The gunman then tried to take other weapons from the deputy's car, but they were locked down, said the official said, who had spoken to law enforcement officials handling the case.

The gunman, who lived at the end of a cul-de-sac, then shot another deputy, who escaped serious injury because of a bullet-proof vest.

A Tallahassee police officer getting ready to work the Florida State University football game heard the shots, ran outside and fatally shot the gunman, who was hiding as other deputies and officers approached, the official said.