FAIR LAWN, N.J. — The dragnet for a man accused of killing a New Jersey police officer ended much the way it began: with a high-speed car chase and a wild gunfight between authorities and the suspect.
Deputies in Florida Sunday gunned down Omar Marti, 23, who allegedly shot and killed a New Jersey police officer last week, then led authorities on a multi-state manhunt.
Marti was found with a small arsenal of firearms, including an AK-47 assault rifle, said Lt. Bobby Caruthers of the Sumter County, Fla., sheriff's department.
He opened fire on deputies near Bevilles Corner, Fla., and shot himself in the jaw before the officers killed him, said Michael Mordaga, chief of detectives for the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office, who is in Florida assisting with the case.
Marti told a relative last week that police would never take him alive, Mordaga said.
"It appears at this point that he meant what he said," Mordaga said.
Marti, of Passaic, had eluded police since Thursday night, when prosecutors say he fatally shot Fair Lawn Officer Mary Ann Collura, 43, and wounded Clifton Officer Steven Farrell, 30, who is hospitalized in good condition.