In a bloody weekend for Florida police, two officers are dead and two are wounded

Two Kissimmee police officers have died after being shot during a routine traffic stop Friday night, authorities said.

Sgt. Richard “Sam” Howard and Officer Matthew Baxter were shot in the McLaren Circle area of Kissimmee, according to a department spokeswoman.

Howard died of his wounds Saturday. Baxter died Friday night, shortly after the shooting.

Two Jacksonville, Fla., police officers were also shot on Friday night, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. Both survived.

Two Pennsylvania state troopers were also reported shot late Friday.

Baxter was investigating three suspicious people about 9:30 p.m., when Howard came to help and a “scuffle” broke out, Kissimmee police Chief Jeff O’Dell said. That’s when Marine veteran Everett Glenn Miller, 45, allegedly shot the officers.

Investigators are still working to understand the details of what happened in the moments before the shooting, officials said.

The officers — who were wearing body armor under their uniforms — apparently did not have a chance to return fire. O’Dell said “it looked like they were surprised” by the gunfire.

Miller fled to a local bar, where Osceola County sheriff’s deputies found him about 11:30 p.m. When they approached him, Miller reached for his waistband — but a fast-acting deputy tackled him and he was arrested, O’Dell said. Miller was carrying a 9-millimeter pistol and a .22-caliber revolver, the police chief said.

The Sheriff’s Office recently took Miller into custody under Florida’s Baker Act, which allows involuntary commitment of people in mental health crises. Miller, who has no criminal record in Florida, was enlisted in the Marines from 1989 to 2010, according to military records.

O’Dell said the community needs to help law enforcement. Social media posts showed Miller threatening law enforcement, O’Dell said, “but we never got a call on that.’’

A Facebook page believed to be Miller’s is filled with posts expressing anger over racism, slavery and the Ku Klux Klan. In one post, he shared a meme encouraging people to “shoot back” with a photo of Martin Luther King Jr.

“You can poke a tie up dog for so long,” Miller wrote.

O’Dell said his officers would press forward with their duties while mourning their co-workers and friends.

“We do not get to stop and cry for someone we’ve lost or mourn our hero,” O’Dell said. “At the time we go through it, the men and women of law enforcement are required to continue working and bring this individual to justice.”

Baxter, 27, was married to a fellow Kissimmee police officer and had four young children, O’Dell said. Howard, 36, had one child.

“They are both wonderful men, family men. They are both very committed to the community,” O’Dell said. “They were the epitome of what you ask for in law enforcement officers.”

The last Kissimmee officer killed on the job was shot in 1983.

President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence said on social media that their “thoughts and prayers” were with the Kissimmee police.

It has also been a dangerous year for law enforcement in Central Florida. Lt. Debra Clayton, a 17-year veteran of the Orlando Police Department, was killed in a gunfight in a Wal-Mart parking lot while attempting to arrest a man suspected of killing his ex-girlfriend.

Orange County sheriff’s Deputy Norman Lewis, a motorcycle officer, was also killed that day during the pursuit for Loyd.