Officer Thomas Joseph Szafranski

Officer Thomas Joseph Szafranski | Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, Florida
Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, Florida
Officer Thomas Joseph Szafranski

Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, Florida

End of Watch Sunday, May 24, 1981

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Thomas Joseph Szafranski

Officer Thomas Szafranski was shot and killed by a sniper with a high-powered rifle while sitting in his patrol car near Davis Street and Sixth Street.

The sniper shot him in the head in the unprovoked attack. The suspect was sentenced to death and executed on March 24th, 1998.

Officer Szafranski had served with the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office for six years.

Bio

  • Age 29
  • Tour 6 years
  • Badge Not available

Incident Details

  • Cause Gunfire
  • Weapon Rifle
  • Offender Executed in 1998

ambush

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Officer Tom Szafranski was a police officer's police office. He was the embodiment of physical fitness and while he only served six (6) years with the agency he was well known, respected and liked by his peers. Tom played football for the Magnum Force Police football team and that is where I first met him as a teammate.

Tom was not a big man but was an extremely tough man and the kind you wanted by your side when you needed backup. When Tom was killed by a coward with a high powered rifle it taught this officer that we were not invincible.

I witnessed his coward's killer put to death in Florida's electric chair at Raiford on March 24th, 1998.

David L. Stevens-Chief (Retired)
Jacksonville Sheriff's Office

May 6, 2020

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