Washington ? 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, Tenn., who was baby-sitting several young children when he was arrested Oct. 24.

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

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 neighbor 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,” Atty. Gen. Albert Gonzales said at a Washington news conference.

“America’s neighborhoods are safer today, thanks to Operation Falcon III,” Gonzales said.

Two earlier stings – Falcons I and II – were held in April over the last two years.

In all, Gonzales said officials caught 10,773 fugitives – including 1,659 sex offenders, 364 gang members and thousands of others sought on kidnapping, robbery, burglary, carjacking and weapons charges. More than 230 weapons were seized.

Those totals represent a fraction of doors knocked on, liquor store drive-bys, construction site surveillances and tips chased down by agents during the weeklong sweep. Finding the fugitives – even at their homes in the early-morning hours – proved to be a hit-or-miss mission for the federal, state and local authorities.