Authorities in Florida arrested a 16-year-old boy and intend to charge him with first degree murder in the shooting death of St. Petersburg police Officer David Crawford.

The killing was the third death of a law enforcement officer in the city in less than a month.

The boy, who was in custody Tuesday night, is a student in the Pinellas County School system. He has prior arrests, mostly for property crimes, said St. Petersburg Police Chief Chuck Harmon.

Prosecutors have not announced if the suspect will be tried as an adult.

Police are still trying to recover the gun that the suspect allegedly used.

“His parents, I will note, have been cooperative throughout this investigation,” Harmon said.

Officials said three tips led them to the suspect.

The teen offered several different accounts of events but after several rounds of interrogation, he admitted information that conformed with evidence that police had already gathered, Harmon said.

“It is quite apparent he was remorseful in his action. He cried,” he said.

Police do not think anyone else was involved in the shooting.

“You don’t expect this type of confrontation between a 16-year-old and a police officer like this,” Harmon said. “I feel for the juvenile’s family but at the same time he’s got to be accountable for his actions.”

The arrest comes after hundreds of police officers scoured neighborhoods in St. Petersburg for the killer of Crawford, a veteran police officer.

The shooting occurred Monday night when Crawford had been summoned to the scene to investigate a suspicious person who was reportedly toting a brick in a resident’s backyard, according to police.

A gunfight erupted moments after Crawford stepped out of his cruiser. When it was over Crawford, 46, had been fatally shot multiple times at close range.

Crawford was not wearing a bulletproof vest at the time, police said.

“He was an honorable man,” Harmon said of Crawford, who had a wife and a 24-year-old daughter.

His shooting marked the third death of a law enforcement officer in St. Petersburg this year.

Two St. Petersburg officers died and a U.S. marshal was wounded January 24 in a gunfight with a suspect who was hiding in an attic.

(Source: CNN)