Tampa police officers 'ambushed' early Saturday, chief says

TAMPA, Fla. - The chief of the Tampa Police Department says his officers were "ambushed" early Saturday morning. 

TPD Chief Brian Dugan says officers were called to the intersection of 15th Street N and 26th Avenue E for a report of shots fired with a possible victim.

He says when officers arrived, hundreds of people had all four intersections completely blocked, and as they attempted to locate a victim, the crowd became aggressive.

As officers took one person into custody, the crowd surrounded officers and threw glass bottles, while several subjects jumped on one of the officer’s cars.

“There were hundreds of them. Hundreds. We ended up having to call every single police officer that was available that night to respond there, from New Tampa to South Tampa,” Dugan said.

He said more than 100 officers came in to help. Two were injured -- one hit on the side of his head and taken to the hospital and another hit with a glass bottle on the back of the head. Both officers are expected to be fine.

As for the investigation, the chief says they are combing through dashcam footage from Saturday and arrests may be forthcoming.