Police: UF stabbing suspect killed by officers

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – A 28-year-old suspect in a stabbing on the University of Florida campus early Monday morning died after he was shot multiple times during a confrontation with an officer, according to the Gainesville Police Department.

According to police, Michael Cravey, approached a husband and wife about 7 a.m., while they were sitting in their car in the Leigh Hall parking lot. Leigh Hall is the chemistry-pharmacy building.

Police said they had a brief discussion, then the suspect got knife from his vehicle and stabbed the victim. The man was taken to UF Health Shands Hospital in Gainesville. His wife was uninjured.

Police said the stabbing suspect fled in a black Jeep.

Police say this wreck on Archer Road may be connected to fleeing stabbing suspect.

Soon after the incident, Gainesville police spotted the suspect's vehicle and began a pursuit. When the suspect began driving the wrong way on a major highway, police say they deemed it 'too dangerous' to continue the pursuit. Police said the suspect crashed his Jeep into a car near a Dunkin' Donuts.

Shortly after 10 a.m., Lt. Mike Schibuola saw the man they identified as Cravey in the parking lot of the Best Buy near a traffic crash on Southwest Archer Road in Gainesville. When Schibuola approached, Cravey raised a hatchet with four-inch blade, refused orders to drop the weapon and advanced. Schibuola fired, hitting the Cravey multiple times, according to GPD.

"It was like, you never think anything like that will happen. It was like something out of a movie," witness Bob Edens said. "I was in the service and it brought back a lot of memories. It was a little scary."

Cravey was taken to UF Health Shands, where he died about an hour later. Gainesville police say Schibuola is a ranking, veteran officer. He's been placed on paid administrative leave, as is standard procedure in police shootings.

"Our officers are asked to do a very difficult job and make decisions in a fraction of a second," Gainesville Police Department spokesman Ben Tobias said. "Today our officer had to make a decision that saved his own life, and possibly others against a suspect that had already hurt another person. Police officers train for deadly force encounters their entire careers, but hope the day never comes where we have to use that training. Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone involved in the incident."

Because it is spring break, few students are on campus this week.

Cravey, a UF graduate, has no arrests in Alachua County. Two women took out injunctions against him for domestic violence in 2005 and 2012.