Detective Randy Scott Bell, 44, was killed on May 19, 1998, in Tampa, Florida, while transporting a suspect to the station. Bell and Detective Ricky Childers were escorting Hank Earl Carr, who had been taken in connection with a shooting of a young child. During the transport Carr freed a hand with a hidden key, grabbed a detective’s weapon and fatally shot both officers as the car approached I-275 on Floribraska Avenue.

Carr then retrieved a rifle from the patrol car trunk, carjacked another vehicle, and during a subsequent chase fatally shot Florida State Trooper James B. Crooks before the pursuit ended at a gas station where Carr died by suicide. Detective Bell had served 21 years with the Tampa Police Department and was survived by his wife and five children.

Does anyone have memories of Detective Bell or details about the transport procedures in place at the time that could shed light on how the hidden key went undetected?