Deputy Sheriff Richard Rudy Raczkoski

Richard Rudy Raczkoski

Deputy Raczkoski was shot and killed at 3 a.m. while checking on a suspicious person using a pay phone in front of a closed convenience store at 8200 20th Street in Vero Beach.

While waiting for a cab to pick the suspect up, a handgun fell from his pants. The suspect picked up the handgun and shot Deputy Raczkoski five times in the back as the deputy attempted to take cover behind his patrol car.

The suspect was apprehended in Albany two days later. An ex-convict who had been out of prison for five months, the suspect was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death.