Was your friend or family member of of the 11,000 arrested in Operation Falcon III ?

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Nearly 11,000 sex offenders, gang members and other fugitives were swept up in what the Justice Department on Thursday called a sting targeting the "worst of the worst" criminals on the run.

Last week's roundup, led by the U.S. Marshals Service, included Allen Marksberry, an unregistered sex offender in Rickman, Tennessee, who was baby-sitting several young children when he was arrested on October 24.

Also nabbed were Demetrius Avery Jackson, an accused cop killer in Birmingham, Alabama, and Eric Dewayne Meneese, a Crips gang member, in Nashville, Tennessee.

The weeklong sting, code-named Operation Falcon III, also led to the shooting death of a Georgia fugitive who was killed by authorities as he came out of his house, officials said. Additionally, the mother of a fugitive in Florida fired -- but missed -- police approaching her home. Both incidents are under investigation, said John F. Clark, director of the Marshals Service.

The roundup, in 24 states east of the Mississippi River, targeted "the worst of the worst fugitive felons in the country," Attorney General Albert Gonzales said at a Washington news conference.