Porfirio Soto Jr., a 26-year-old Tampa Police Officer and U.S. Marine Corps veteran, was killed on December 30, 1988, while serving an arrest warrant at 3710 E. Idlewild Avenue. He and another officer were inside the suspect’s home when the wanted man resisted; during the struggle Officer Soto was shot in an area not covered by his bulletproof vest and died shortly afterward despite medical attention.

The suspect fled but was captured soon after, later convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. That inmate hanged himself in prison on April 13, 1997. Soto had served 18 months with the Tampa Police Department and left a wife and a 10-month-old son.