Column: At What Price, This 'Routine' Vigil?

At least 22 arrests dating from age 12. A prison record. A history of violence. An upcoming trial that seemed likely to put him back behind bars.

Michael Allen Phillips had built some track record. And he was just 24 years old.

"Mike was mentally unstable," his ex-girlfriend told a reporter Wednesday, "but he was a good person, too."

Definitions vary.

Early Wednesday, good person or not, authorities say that he shot and killed a veteran Hillsborough County sheriff's deputy, told his ex-girlfriend of the act, and informed her that he was coming for her family next.

Deputies soon found Phillips at his mother's home in Brandon. According to Sheriff David Gee, he spouted Aryan sayings over the telephone to negotiators. Phillips then exchanged gunfire with the SWAT team that surrounded the house. That decision did not turn out well for him. [rest of column]

Comments

[Ron]

Howard, good column. I also live next door to one of St. Pete's finest and I often wonder what it must be like for his family every day when he leaves for work.

I can't help but wonder what it is going to take to finally make these judges stop and think about their responsibility to the community. There is absolutely no reason for this multiple felon to have been released from custody. There needs to be a way for judges to be held responsible for their decisions.

[Phil]

There is a way Ron… just make their record public before each election… problem solved.

[Ron]

Good idea, Phil, except very few people even bother to vote and most of those that do pay no attention to the judicial races.