Deputy Matt Williams - K9
Diogi 
Deputy Matt Williams and his K9
partner Diogi were killed on
September 28th, 2006. This situation started simply as a traffic
stop with some questionable ID and when Matt pulled up to back up
the officer who was on the initial stop, the suspect fled. The two
officers did what any of us would do...Matt hooked up his dog and
they started to track the suspect, but without further support. To
be honest, I think most of us would likely have done the same thing.
Roughly 300 feet into the woods
from where they started the suspect ambushed the officers, killing
Diogi (Matt's dog) as well as Matt and wounding the other officer in
the leg. Matt was a student of our programs and it always has
significant impact when this occurs with someone you know. Sadly,
Matt is one of a number of K9 officers I have known personally over
the years who have given their lives in the line of duty.
The suspect was subsequently tracked down the next day and killed by
SWAT team members. A man who had been pulled over for a traffic
violation shot two sheriff's
 deputies
Thursday, killing one of them and prompting an intensive manhunt
that forced a lockdown at three schools, officials said. Authorities
told residents to lock themselves in their homes as officers swarmed
the rural area. The gunman remained at large. The shooter was first
approached during a traffic stop for speeding, officials said. The
deputy became suspicious of the man's ID, and the suspect bolted
into thick brush.
That deputy and another who arrived seconds later with a police dog
chased the suspect. As the officers tracked him, there was a "burst
of gunfire," said Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd. The first deputy
returned fire, and both deputies and the dog were shot. Judd said
the killed deputy was Vernon Matthew "Matt" Williams, 39.
"If he had been in the ER or the operating room, it wouldn't have
made a difference," Judd said. "He was shot multiple times. I don't
believe he felt a thing." The deputy who made the traffic stop,
Douglas Speirs, 39, was treated for a gunshot wound to the leg and
released Thursday evening, a sheriff's spokeswoman said.
The suspect later exchanged gunfire with a Lakeland police detective
who was at a home warning residents to stay inside. No one was hit.
"This is the face of the man who shot and killed my deputy today,"
Judd said at a news conference, holding the photo from the
identification card the suspect showed Speirs. The card carried the
name of a 32-year-old Miami man, but Judd cautioned that the
information could be bogus.
Polk Deputy Gunned Down
Donna Wood's voice cracked as she
said the name into her cell phone, answering yet another media call
for information Thursday afternoon. "Deputy Matt Williams," said
Wood, a Polk County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman. "He left a wife
and three children."
Just moments before, a somber Sheriff Grady Judd had described how a
routine lunchtime traffic stop went awry, leaving Williams, 39, and
his K-9 dog dead. A second deputy, Douglas Speirs, also 39, was
wounded in the leg. He is expected to make a full recovery. "It's
been a very bad day at the sheriff's office," Wood said to another
caller, doing her job and grieving at the same time. The suspect in
the shooting - tentatively identified late Thursday night - remained
at large into the night. Throughout the day, over a large swath of
north Lakeland, schools were locked down, streets were sealed off
and residents were told to stay inside.
Police and television helicopters, as many as seven at one time,
hovered above. Hordes of law enforcement officers representing
virtually every agency in West Central Florida moved from house to
house in a very personal manhunt. Investigators said they had a
photo of the man they were looking for. But they were far less
certain of his supposed name - Eswardo O. Ramclaim - and Miami
address, which they took from an identification card. Both were
likely bogus, Judd said.
The crimes are not. The man is accused of ambushing the two deputies
who pursued him into a wooded area, killing Williams with multiple
shots - on his wife's birthday.
Polk County Sheriff Confirms Death of
Murder Suspect
An all-out manhunt ended in Polk
County for a man wanted for shooting two sheriff's deputies, killing
one of them and his K-9 partner.
At around 9:50 a.m., the Polk County Sheriff made the announcement
that SWAT team members had discovered the suspect. Deputies were
literally standing on-top of the suspect and didn't even know it
until he moved. The SWAT team gave instructions which the suspect
didn't obey, and evetually it ended with a SWAT team member, or
members, shooting and killing the suspect.
Orange County Sheriff Kevin Beary was on hand when word came that
the suspect had been captured.
Hundreds of law enforcement personnel from across Central Florida
traveled to Lakeland Thursday to help in the manhunt. Orange
County alone sent 20 deputies and 10 command post personnel to Polk
County to help out. For some residents, the gunfire literally
happened right in their backyards. Paul Prebor came face to
face with the suspect. He says the man was right near him when he
started shooting.
Prebor said: "[The suspect] shot twice. Now remember this happened
quick. Then they shot back. He darted [one] way and I darted behind
the house. I went to the front door to beeline to get my wife. They
told me to leave and I said ‘no not without my wife.’ I got my wife
and proceeded across the street." Folks we talked to say
they're still reeling from what happened and are now just trying to
focus to get their lives back to normal.
The entire manhunt, began unfolding shortly before noon Thursday,
after what was supposed to be a routine traffic stop in Lakeland.
Deputy Matthew Williams pulled over who they believed to be Eswardo
Ramclaim, (The suspect may have gone by the names of Alex or Andrew
Cloxton or Angelo Freeland) but he fled into a thickly, wooded area
when the officer began asking him about his identity. Investigators
say deputies then chased the suspect into the woods where he opened
fire. One deputy and his K-9 partner were killed. A second deputy
was also shot but is now out of the hospital. The victim, Matthew
Williams, had worked for the sheriff's office for 12 years. He
leaves behind a wife and three children.
Crews marked off an area two to three square miles searching for
Ramclaim, but came up empty handed on Thursday night. Still,
deputies vowed to not give up the fight, and they didn't until they
found their man.
On Thursday, Sheriff Grady Judd informed everyone including the
suspect, "We're prepared for a gunfight if he wants one. We're
prepared to take him into custody peacefully. He'll choose that
option. But we're prepared to respond in whatever manner he
chooses." More than 500 officers searched the area before it ended
around 10 a.m. The surviving deputy is Doug Speirs. He initiated the
traffic stop. Speirs has been with the sheriff's office for the last
six years. He has been released from the hospital and will spend the
day with the family of the late Deputy Matthew Williams.
 Devoted,
Playful Williams Loved People, Dogs
Somewhere on Matt Williams' cell phone is a call
from Chase Campbell.
Williams' 16-year-old neighbor called to find out about rumors that
a motorist had shot two Polk County sheriff's deputies and one of
their K-9 partners during a routine traffic stop Thursday. Williams
never got the call.
As Campbell dialed sometime after 12:30 p.m., Williams, a 12-year
veteran with the sheriff's office, and his partner, a German
shepherd named Diogi, lay in a wooded area of Lakeland dying from
gunshot wounds after chasing the suspect on foot. "It's so strange
to think about that I was calling when all this was going on,"
Campbell said Friday.
Williams was the kind of guy who gave out his cell number to friends
and neighbors and never minded a call, even to share a good joke. If
there was a problem, they called Williams. "He was just a real good
guy," Campbell said. The gunfight ignited a daylong manhunt that
ended Friday morning when authorities surrounded the driver hidden
in a hole under a fallen tree. Authorities said they fatally shot
the man, thought to be Angilo Freeland, after he flashed a gun as
they ordered him out from the hole. Douglas Speirs, the other deputy
wounded Thursday, was shot in the leg. He was released from the
hospital and is expected to recover.
Freeland's death did little to console friends and neighbors of
Williams, 39, who died as he was supposed to meet his wife, Nancy,
for lunch to celebrate her 40th birthday. Friends remember Vernon
Matthew Williams as a likable jokester and point to his K-9
partner's name as a testament to his offbeat sense of humor. They
said that behind the uniform, Williams was an ordinary Polk County
guy who liked big glasses of iced tea, tinkering with tractors and
relished his low-key way of life. Williams' family declined to
comment for the story, except to say, "He was her rock, and now he
is gone," said Juanita Harwell, the widow's sister.
If the family couldn't find words to express their grief, friends
and co-workers ensured Williams' life was not forgotten "He was a
hero. He lived as a hero. He died as a hero," said sheriff's
Detective Mike Evans, a co-worker and close friend of Williams.'
Loved Ones Gather To Grieve
Williams' rural Polk City home became a
gathering place for friends, family and co-workers whose arrivals -
some in patrol cars - began early in the morning and continued late
into the evening Friday. They brought chicken, lasagna and comfort
for the grieving family.
Several arrived grim-faced, leaving in tears, puffing cigarettes or
chirping the tires as they roared off down the road. A sheriff's
deputy parked in a white sedan at the end of Williams' long, dusty
driveway shooed away journalists and gawkers.
Williams' ranch-style home is on several acres about 15 miles east
of Lakeland, with a sprawling fenced pasture where his horses
munched grass throughout the day. The home is about a mile from Polk
Correctional Institution and is in the heart of an area that many
law enforcement officers call home. Neighbors said they were
comforted when they saw Williams come home in his patrol car,
usually signaled by the sounds of the family's many barking dogs,
including two retired K-9 partners.
"We just felt so safe knowing he was there," said Kathy Hanks, who
has been Williams' neighbor for 12 years. "You'd look at him and
your heart would fill up. Matt is one of the best people you'd ever
want to know."
Never A Party Without Dogs
Williams coached baseball and could be counted
on to buy several boxes of candy bars from the local Scouts. He
helped his son Chris tinker with a finicky Chevrolet Blazer.
"He was just one of the most helpful people you'd ever want to
know," said Willy Abercrombie, who served with Williams in the
Winter Haven Masonic Lodge #186.
Williams hosted large barbecues to celebrate holidays and special
occasions. But at the Williams house, it was never a party without
dogs. Williams joined the sheriff's office in 1994 and the K-9 unit
in 2000. Neighbors said Williams was never far from Diogi. "He was
an excellent dog handler; he just loved those dogs," said Lloyd
O'Quinn, a close friend and K-9 handler with the Alachua County
Sheriff's Office. Diogi will be cremated, and his remains will be
buried with Williams.
Williams leaves his wife and three children, Christopher Matthew,
19, and twins Jimmy Allen and Amanda Rochelle, 16.
Trust Fund
People wishing to
make donations to the Matt Williams Family Trust Fund can do so in
the following ways:
Go to any Wachovia Bank branch in Polk County and make a donation to
the 'Matt Williams Family Trust Fund.' Mail your donation check,
made out to the 'Matt Williams Family Trust Fund,' to:
Wachovia Bank
c/o Marilyn Watson
203 Avenue A
Winter Haven, FL 33881 |
