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Suspect in death of deputy is killed

Authorities say the man who shot the Polk County deputy had connections to the drug trade.

By BRADY DENNIS and BEN MONTGOMERY
Published September 30, 2006

LAKELAND - Even after they hunted him down and filled him with bullet holes, they weren't sure of his name.

They were certain the man had killed a Polk County sheriff's deputy and his police dog.

They had searched all night. And when they found him Friday morning, hiding under a fallen oak tree with the dead deputy's gun in his hand, they shot first and faced the questions later.

The main question: Who exactly was the man who killed Deputy Matthew Williams?

By day's end, the name that emerged from his many aliases was Angilo Freeland, 27, who had been known to carry guns, someone suspected of being involved in the drug trade.

Records show he faced arrest in April 1999 when he fled from sheriff's deputies after they stopped him for speeding in Lakeland. He abandoned his white truck that time, leaving behind a handgun and a receipt for a semiautomatic Russian rifle.

The receipt had an address, where deputies later arrested Freeland on charges including felony fleeing and eluding and resisting an officer without violence.

Later that year, records show, he skipped a court appearance, forfeited his bail and vanished. A judge issued a warrant for his arrest. The Polk County Sheriff's Office never served it.

In 2005, the State Attorney's Office asked the state to drop the case because the warrant had not been served, the case was "stale" and continuing it "would serve no useful purpose."

On Thursday, Freeland fled from a traffic stop again, only this time it turned deadly.

Deputy Douglas Speirs, 39, stopped Freeland in north Lakeland, near Interstate 4, shortly before noon Thursday and became suspicious of his identification. Freeland grew nervous and bolted into the woods, investigators said.

Speirs pursued him and called for backup. Williams arrived, and the two men began working their way into the woods. Freeland and the deputies traded fire. Speirs was shot in the leg but otherwise was okay.

Williams, 39, was hit several times and killed, as was his dog, Diogi.

Authorities said Freeland later exchanged gunfire with a Lakeland police detective who was warning residents to stay inside. No one was hit.

Several schools went on lockdown for hours Thursday. Students at nearby Kathleen High School didn't get home until well into the evening, and the school was closed Friday as deputies continued their search.

Hundreds of officers from at least 15 law enforcement agencies spent the night combing through the dense brush and forest near the shooting scene. They used night-vision scopes, tracking dogs, helicopters and door-to-door searches.

In the end, they found Freeland less than 100 yards from where Williams was killed a day earlier. The manhunt ended about 9:35 a.m., as searchers walked shoulder-to-shoulder through the tangled brush.

Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said Freeland had burrowed under the fallen oak and SWAT members saw him only when they were nearly on top of him.

Judd said the suspect refused to show both hands when officers commanded him to, and they opened fire when it appeared he was carrying the slain deputy's gun, Judd said. It was unclear if Freeland fired any shots.

"The killer chose his end because he didn't show both hands," Judd said. He added that several SWAT members fired their automatic weapons at Freeland and that the rounds hit him "many, many, many times."

Autopsies were pending both on Freeland and Williams.

When it was over, those who had spent the night hunting Freeland returned to the staging area outside Webster Memorial Baptist Church off Chesnut Road.

They arrived in cars and pickup trucks, in armored tanks, on horseback or on foot. Some wore camouflage. Most looked dirty and tired. But relieved.

Under a stand of pine trees, sheriff's deputies shook hands and patted one another on the back. They removed the ammunition from their automatic weapons.

Across the street, at Kathleen High, Judd stood before a sea of cameras and said, somberly, "God will be the judge and jury this time."

Later in the afternoon, Judd vowed to dig further into Freeland's past, noting that he was known to have practiced marksmanship at a gun range.

Freeland also had drug connections in Miami and Orlando, Judd said. And he promised to hunt them down, thanks in part to a book of detailed drug transactions found in Freeland's car.

"We've got a great deal of information that we can track," Judd said.

Records also show Freeland may have lived on St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. St. Thomas police said a man by that name and age was arrested on the island, but further details were unavailable Friday afternoon.

With the hunt for the killer over, those who knew Williams turned to remembering him as a respected deputy, a loyal friend and a loving husband and father to his three children - a 19-year-old son and 16-year-old twins, a boy and a girl.

"It's a thin blue line we walk. Only those in uniform can understand it," said Sgt. Jim Bryan, who worked with Williams on the canine unit. "He was my right-hand man. He's my friend. I'm going to miss him."

Deputy Mike Evans said Williams worked hard but lived to spend his off-duty time with his family.

"He was a hero," Evans said. "He lived as a hero; he died as a hero."

On Thursday, the same day Williams died, his wife turned 40. Days earlier, he had ordered an ice cream cake - Oreo cookies, cherries, chocolate drizzle - for her at the Dairy Queen on U.S. 98. "Happy Birthday Mom," it said on top.

The store's owner told the Ledger newspaper in Lakeland that Williams was due to pick up the cake the afternoon of the shooting.

She kept calling his cell phone, but no one answered.

The funeral for Williams is scheduled for 1 p.m. Tuesday at Victory Assembly of God Church in Lakeland. Friends and guests are asked to arrive at 11:30 a.m.

Services for Williams' dog Diogi will be held at the same time.

Lakeland Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

People wishing to make donations to the Matt Williams Family Trust Fund can do so at any Wachovia Bank branch in Polk County, or by mailing 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.

The remains of both the deputy and his dog will be interred at Auburndale Memorial Cemetery.

Times researcher John Martin and staff writer Abbie Vansickle contributed to this report.

[Last modified September 30, 2006, 01:28:04]