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By BILLY TOWNSEND
The Tampa Tribune
LAKELAND - The shoulder-to-shoulder line of Central Florida SWAT officers, organized in closely linked teams of 10 or 11, stretched for hundreds of feet and slowly crept north toward Interstate 4.
Carrying MP5 submachine guns and other assault weapons, the officers hacked through vines and poked at every possible hiding place Friday in a dense patch of brush and woods that had become ground zero of the search for a man who killed a deputy.
Just after 9:30 a.m., one of the teams happened upon a large fallen oak tree. Dug in beneath it they found the man accused of ambushing and killing Deputy Matt Williams and his K-9 partner Diogi on Thursday.
“They were pretty much on top of him before they could see him,” Sheriff Grady Judd said.
In a flash, what probably was the most intensive manhunt in Polk County history reached its climax.
One officer, who hasn’t been identified, ordered the suspect to show his hands, Judd said. The suspect showed just one hand.
Then someone saw a gun in the other, and nine of 10 members of the team opened fire, killing the man in place with “numerous” shots, Judd said. It was less than 100 yards from where Williams and Diogi were killed.
The suspect had his right hand on Williams’ 45-caliber semiautomatic service handgun, investigators said.
About a half-mile away, at the command post near Kathleen High School, police radios began to crackle, and the news spread fast.
At one point Judd was heard on the radio saying, “Search is over. Suspect Signal Seven.” That’s police language for dead.
A cheer went up.
Within moments, Judd arrived to tell reporters, announcing, “God will be the judge and jury this time.”
2 Days, 2 Names
But who is the man upon whom the verdict was rendered?
The sheriff’s office provided a second possible identity for him in as many days.
Judd said detectives are certain that a man arrested in Polk County in 1999 under the name Angilo Freeland, 27, is the same man killed under the tree Friday.
They do not know if that’s the name on his birth certificate or the one he used most often. Angilo Freeland has ties to several Lakeland addresses, investigators said. None seems current.
A different name, Eswardo O. Ramclaim, was provided Thursday night - with warnings that it probably was bogus. It was the name the man gave Deputy Douglas Speirs when he stopped him for speeding at 10th Street and Wabash Avenue in north Lakeland.
Freeland was arrested in 1999 by the Florida Highway Patrol on charges that he had no driver’s license, fled from officers and had a concealed weapon.
The charges echo the circumstances of Thursday’s 11:45 a.m. traffic stop, from which Freeland bolted into a nearby wooded area.
By late afternoon Friday, crime scene technicians were working closely over Freeland’s body, which was to be sent to the medical examiner’s office. Judd said he expects a better identification to emerge.
In the meantime, Judd said, detectives are developing a picture of who Freeland was. They found no drugs in the rental car he was driving, but they think he has ties to a drug ring.
And Judd said two cell phones he dropped and a “book of associates” detectives found are providing a number of leads.
The Ambush
Judd provided more details Friday about what might have happened in the woods when Speirs, Williams and Diogi went in after Freeland as other deputies ringed the area.
It appears Williams and Diogi tracked Freeland almost too successfully and that the dense vegetation worked to their disadvantage.
“They had run him into an area so thick that he couldn’t move,” Judd said.
With nowhere left to run, Freeland holed up behind a tree in much the same fashion that he did Friday morning. And then he struck in what Judd called “an ambush.” Judd said Williams and Diogi were too good at their jobs to have been overcome by anything other than an ambush.
Detectives think Freeland used a 9 mm Taurus handgun to kill Williams and his dog. That gun also was found on Freeland after he was killed. Detectives still are not saying where Williams was hit, but they have said he was struck with several shots and likely died instantly.
Speirs was wounded in the leg shortly afterward in an exchange of fire, and the shooter fled.
Speirs was treated at a Lakeland hospital Thursday but not admitted. It wasn’t immediately clear which weapon Freeland used on Speirs or when he took Williams’ weapon.
However he did it, Freeland managed to kill a seasoned deputy and his highly trained K-9, take his gun and ammunition, wound another deputy and successfully elude capture in a fairly confined space for almost 24 hours.
It shows a capability of cool, tactical thinking, sheriff’s officials said.
“It makes you wonder,” said Gary Hester, sheriff’s office chief of staff, when asked whether detectives think Freeland might have received formal military training of some kind.
Hester said there is no evidence of that. But he said one source in the investigation says Freeland might have trained informally at a Lakeland gun range.
A Violent, Vital Confrontation
Judd said Friday that the key to getting Freeland was how quickly deputies and police officers sealed off both the wooded area and the wider swath of north Lakeland that remained locked down throughout the manhunt.
It helped that deputies were on scene backing up the search for Freeland when the shooting started.
Judd singled out the Lakeland Police Department for praise. He cited the agency’s quick arrival at Interstate 4, cutting Freeland’s access to the north.
He said two Lakeland police officers who exchanged gunfire with Freeland just after the deputies were shot might have staved off a worse crisis. They forced him back into the woods and away from an elderly couple’s home at 1446 Wabash Ave., the very northern end of the road.
“He would have got in there and hurt that couple and got himself a car,” Hester said.
On Friday, Paul Prebor, 76, the owner of the home, casually retold his brush with death and showed off bullet marks - one coming, one going - in the eaves of his outdoor laundry room and shed near the rear of his house.
Nearby, sheriff’s administrators picked up spent canisters of tear gas that still gave off enough odor to make eyes water. Officers had used them Thursday, thinking Freeland might have run from the gunfire into the house as Prebor and his wife fled.
The Prebors live several hundred yards north of the site of the traffic stop and even closer to the spot where Freeland was killed.
Paul Prebor said he didn’t hear the shooting of the deputies, but he quickly noticed the commotion that followed and came out to see what was going on. He saw officers with guns drawn telling him to go back inside, where his wife was, and lock his doors.
After a few moments informing neighbors, Prebor was preparing to go inside when Lakeland policeofficers Jeff Birdwell, a detective, and Jose Bosque pulled up.
They got out, Prebor said, and one asked a strange question: “Does that black man in your backyard have any reason to be there?”
‘He Was Tall’
Rather than answer, Prebor, who was facing away from his backyard, said he instinctively turned. He saw Freeland, gun drawn, run into the covered opening of the shed, step in front of a barbecue grill and open fire at him and the officers. They were standing about 75 yards away, near the street.
Prebor said he thinks Freeland fired twice and that the officers quickly fired twice in return. Lakeland police spokesman Jack Gillen, who identified the officers, said both got off rounds, but he did not know how many.
All the shots, from both sides, missed. Freeland bolted back into the Prebors’ backyard. Prebor rushed to retrieve his wife, who was in the kitchen behind an open window, and take her across the street to a neighbor’s home.
Prebor said he saw Freeland for about three seconds.
“It happened so fast, I didn’t have time to be scared. I’m not that emotional about things,” he said.
His impression of Freeland? “I thought he was tall.”
That’s accurate. Freeland’s Polk arrest record lists him at 6-foot-2. At least one of his bullets struck the inside eave of the shed on its way out, splintering wood and perhaps altering the path of the bullet.
Though officers weren’t able to nab or kill Freeland there, they managed to push him away from the area where he might most easily have found hostages and likely back into the brush, sheriff’s officials said.
“We felt confident that he hadn’t gotten out of there,” Hester said. “We felt he was pinned down.”
They were confident enough that Thursday night the SWAT leaders from the various agencies on scene began to plan the meticulous search of the woods that would find Freeland on Friday morning.
They would find and kill him within sight of Prebor’s home.
Editor Dave Nicholson contributed to this report. Reporter Billy Townsend can be reached at (863) 284-1409 or wtownsend@tampatrib.com.
UNFOLDING EVENTS
Thursday
11:45 a.m.: Deputy Douglas Speirs pulls over a driver for speeding at 10th Street and Wabash Avenue. The driver runs into dense woods northwest of the traffic stop scene. Backup deputies arrive to surround the area. After several minutes, Speirs, Deputy Vernon Matthew “Matt” Williams and his dog partner, Diogi, go into the woods.
12:30 p.m.: The driver fires at the deputies, killing Williams and Diogi. Speirs is wounded in the leg. The shooter flees.
About 1 p.m.: As deputies and police begin swarming the area, the man is seen in the backyard of a home at 1446 N. Wabash. He exchanges fire with two Lakeland police officers. No one is hit. The man disappears again.
4 p.m.: Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd announces Williams and Diogi are dead. A massive manhunt spreads across much of north Lakeland.
About 7 p.m.: Students from nearby Kathleen High School are taken by bus, under armed guard, to a north Lakeland church, where parents finally are allowed to pick them up.
9 p.m.: Judd gives his final briefing of the night and warns, “We’re prepared for a gunfight if he wants a gunfight.”
Friday
9:35 a.m.: A patrol of SWAT officers walking shoulder to shoulder near the scene of the shootings happens upon the driver, who had buried himself beneath a fallen tree overgrown with brush. The man raises only one hand. The officers, seeing a gun, open fire, killing the man. Moments later a cheer is heard at the law enforcement command center near Kathleen High.
9:50 a.m.: Judd announces suspect is dead. He was carrying a .45-caliber handgun thought to be Williams’ service weapon.
You see, these ignorant’s from the UK don’t have a clue to how large the United States is, they think we are a country the same size as theirs.
The UK-Population: 60,441,457 (July 2005 est.)
The US Population: 295,734,134 (July 2005 est.)
The only person worth listening to from the UK is Tony Blair, the rest are kissing the feet of Fanatic Muslims, taking over their country. They don’t use guns, they are all stockpiling stones, for the future in Sharia Law.
Don’t worry Mate from the UK, keep a stiff upper lip, but actually, that won’t save you when those muslims start throwing those big stones at your head. Call an unarmed Bobby, will you??
Moron.
Good Job Florida LE! So sorry for the loss of life of your Officers!!
Mr. Mike Moanhard in the UK - just a quick comment to you…the cops that shot him had no choice. They gave him the option of showing his hands and when he only showed one and then it was noticed that the other had a gun in it and he wouldn’t release it - what other choice did they have? Risk having their own life taken? Having an ex-husband (who is with the PCSO) and the father of my daughter out there searching for him I’d MUCH rather him shoot the guy than to have a gun pointed at him. He was a drug dealer, and a cop killer (of TWO cops). I’m just thankful our tax dollars won’t be paying for his trial and his three meals in jail. Deal with your own local issues. Our deputies are heros and did what they had to do.
To Matt’s family and his extended family at the Sheriff’s office, what a loss. I’m so sorry the events happened. But he and Diogi will always be remembered as heros.
To our other Law Enforcement officers that protect us each and every day, THANK YOU
Great job Florida…God be with you!!
Thank you , What a great job by the cops, They saved the system, Taxpayer’s many $$ .
This must send a message to the bad guys.
Congratulations to the Lakeland Police force for a job well done. And anyone who thinks differant, needs to get their own butt out on the street & see what life is really like out there. We’re just so sorry for Ofc Williams’ family. Our condolences go out to them.
Ahhh yes! Good ole’ Southern Justice has run it’s course again.
To the retard that questioned if this killer could have threatened 1000 police officers: No, but he threatened at least one out of the pack. Which one it was we’ll never know, but apparently the ones that fired thought it was themselves. Must be nice to live in Make-Believe-Land where its only sunshine and flowers. Pffft!
To the retard from the UK: Why are you even commenting on this? Don’t you have a “God Save The Queen” rally to attend? Shouldn’t you be somewhere smoking on a ##### and questioning why you havent sucked on a handgun yet? Go to hell, this is America, boy and we live by American laws. I guess we could have called the Bobbies in to smack them with their sticks. Pffft!
God Bless America and the fallen sheriff’s family.
To the people who think the police over-reacted:
A “man” who will shoot armed police officers definitely wouldn’t hesitate to shoot =unarmed= people who got in his way. Who knows who would have been killed to provide this murderous psychopath with a getaway car, different clothes, and a tank of gas????? We should all be shouting hurray that only ONE innocent was killed. This could have been a bloodbath.
Sheila Hutchence, you live in a dream world. You make me sick. Thinking life in prison would be horrible is STUPID. We, the taxpayers would have to support the low-life for the next 40 to 50 years. All his food, medical, dental, laywers and court costs etc. Then there is the possibility he could harm a corrections officer. He has already shown he has no problem taking the life of a cop.If you want to snuggle up to scum like this, then you need serious help. Oh, then there is the fact that he may one day be released back into the community or worse yet, escape from prison. The cops did good. God bless them.
A Georgia Cop
The Polk Country Sheriff’s Office is a very profressional law enforcement agency. The sad lost of one it’s profressional Deputy and the highly trained dog as a result of a criminal, show the extent of what these fine men and women have sworn to do in order to protect and serve.
No other citizens were injured, and the Sheriff’s Office rapid and profressional response reflects well on Sheriff Judd and the Polk County Sheriff’s Office
“God will be the judge and jury this time,â€
Grady Judd
A man of eloquence and brevity.
Would that the law in California had such a leader!
Kirk D. Bennett
First off I would like to say to the families off the officers my prayers are with you.It is just a shame that there are people out there like “Matt Mason” who say “I hate cops” Well matt to you I hope you never get into a situation where you need the police for help, but if you do I am sure that you would be the first to call for help and I guarantee that any officer would take a bullet trying to save you. Think about things before you speak have some respect for the families. Police officers put their lives on the line day in and day out. What they get is little respect from the community, and that needs to change. If you see a police officer thank him or her for the job that they do. Deputy Williams did doing his job protecting the citizens and his partner died protecting his master. Rest in peace Deputy williams & Diogi you are in my prayers and you will be missed.As for the suspect I will sleep better knowing he is dead. Thank You to all Law enforcement for the jobs you do.
A lot of people have critized Janet from Winter Haven and righfully so - Besides the fact that her argument is totally devoid of any mention of GUILT with respect to what is murder…...I am more bothered by her first line. She clearly places more emphasis on the K-9 Ofiicer than she does on the “deputy handler”.
Clearly her priorities and perspective are out of whack and no amount of reason will get through…..911 should call block her number.
God bless the officers involved for ridding us of this trash and saving the taxpayers the cost of a trial.
Comments about American gun laws by nitwit Brits who think we should be just like them, i.e., unarmed and defenseless, serve only to make me glad that my ancestors left the UK when they did. They must have some inkling of what the “old country” was going to turn into.
Oh Janet, honey, are you serious? A K-9 officer and his human handler? I love you people. You have to be pulling my hind leg!! That’s just too good! I can’t stop laughing…
OK…now that I have wiped away my tears of joy…let’s examine this from a liberal point of view:
It must be HELL for you to see soooo many “redneck” “backwater” Americans who are dancing with glee that this shred of human debris has been mercifully terminiated. (Mercy for us law abiding tax payers and for this addlepated twit).
It must be maddening that so many tax paying Americans are now glad, delighted, happy that the judical system will not be burdened with proving that a gun stealing, gun toting criminal actually killed that unarmed K-9 officer and his human handler.
Bad Boys, Bad Boys….What ya gonna do when they come for you?
Justice has been served!
Oh this is great news! Thank GOD they got that worthless maniac! He not only killed one Officer, he killed his Officer Dog too!! He also shot another Officer, hitting him in the leg. That shot could have very well severed the major artery in his leg and forced him to bleed to death. A trooper in NY died the same way, last month.
Anyone ranting about the Swat killing this PERP must have a rap sheet of their own. Period.
Good JOB..DInG DoNg, the PERP is DEAD! Doing a HAPPY DANCE!
I just want to thank police officers for protecting our streets. And for the guy who was shot dead he made his choice when he shot the cop and his k-9 d-o-g. and for the family of officer Williams may god be with you in this moment of grieve….
Kudos to the law enforcement agencies involved with this! This person used an alias, killed two officers, wounded another and then ran. When confronted in the woods, he only showed one hand when ordered to show both… that would be enough for me to feel threatened. He had the opportunity to surrender at any time, he chose not to.
I just hope his family doesn’t get stupid and file a wrongful death lawsuit. If they do, then I hope Deputy Williams’ family and PCSO files a countersuit for their losses.
My prayers go out to the officers family. I am so sad what happened to him. Thankyou to the Police officers that put their lives in danger and found this monster. Can you imagine how scary it would have been being there walking thru the bushes and trees searching for someone that killed a cop. They could have been next. I am glad they found him and put him out of his existance on this Earth.
This is to the Matt Masons of the world:
You hate the policeman that puts his life on the line for you every day, every time he pulls a car over so the streets are safer for you to drive down the road, every time he comes to the door of a domestic disturbance. Without a force of dedicated officers can you imagine the situation we would face just going out our front door. Evidently you do not appreciate the protection provided. Why don’t you move to a country that will give you the ‘total’ freedom you seem to need. Probably to smoke your weed, do your drugs, or whatever it is you do that is against the law and makes you hate the police officer so bad. You are a sick individual.
Wow Janet, that is very insiteful. I had no idea 1,000 strangers had the ability to conspire and execute a murder in such a short period of time; thank you for clearing that up. My prayers are with the officers that were forced to use their weapons in self defence when suddenly confronted by a MURDERER. I am so happy no other innocent citizens were harmed.
Thankfully this guy was caught before someone else was hurt or killed. I find it interesting, the remarks about gun-control from the gentleman in the UK. You do realize criminals still have guns. They don’t care about what the law says.
my deepest sympathy goes out to the slain officers family and my deepest respect to all the officers who worked so tirelessly to find the person responsible for this horrible act. they were justified in whatever means needed to apprehend this killer. Given the previous behaviour of this individual,they most likely saved one or more officers by being the first to shoot!
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Posted by DON MILLHOLLAND, ATLANTA on 09/29 at 01:10 PM
JUSTICE IS SERVED !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!