FORT MYERS, Fla. – A former missionary turned police officer was shot and killed along with a suspect after police were called to a disturbance outside a downtown nightclub early Friday.

Rookie officer Andrew Widman, 30, was shot in the face at close range after he stepped in to break up a dispute between a man and his girlfriend at about 2 a.m., police Maj. Doug Baker said.

The suspect, identified as 26-year-old Abel Arango of Naples, ran from the scene while firing at other officers, Baker said. Four officers returned fire, killing Arango.

Witnesses told police that before Widman arrived at the scene, Arango said “he was going to go out Miami-style, and he was going to take one of our officers with him,” Baker said at a news conference. Arango was an ex-convict who was free on bond while awaiting trial on drug and probation violation charges.

Widman, who had previously done missionary work, had been with the police department since April 2007, Baker said. He was married, with three children between the ages of 2 and 5. Details of his missionary work weren't immediately available.

“He was a good guy,” Baker said. “He'll be missed by his peers.”

Mayor Jim Humphrey said it was “one of the saddest days in the life of this city.”

“A piece of America died today,” said Fort Myers city councilman Johnny Streets, a former police officer. “A piece was plucked out of the flag.”

Streets told The (Fort Myers) News-Press that the last time the department lost an officer to a shooting was in 1924.

According to the Florida Department of Corrections, Arango spent more than four years in prison on convictions for burglary, robbery, grand theft and carrying a concealed weapon. He was released on March 1, 2004. In May he was charged with violating probation on those convictions after he was arrested on drug charges. His attorney said he was free on $100,000 bond.