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FBI to review shooting of deputy's killer

By TIMES WIRES
Published November 25, 2006

The FBI will investigate whether authorities used excessive force when they shot a fugitive 68 times after he fatally shot a Polk County sheriff's deputy. The Justice Department said the decision is a routine response to a Florida Civil Rights Association complaint alleging that authorities showed disregard for human life when they shot Angilo Freeland after an all-night manhunt. Freeland fled after killing Deputy Vernon Matthew Williams, 39, and his canine partner during a routine traffic stop Sept. 28 and wounding Deputy Douglas Speirs.

Squatters take over lot in protest

Squatters have taken over a vacant city-owned lot in the heart of Liberty City, turning it into a cause celebre for the homeless, the Miami Herald reports. Some are drifters, others are locals usually found sleeping on sidewalks. Since October they have taken up residence in brightly painted wooden shacks with blue-tarp roofs to protest the city's lack of affordable housing. About 40 people inhabit this shantytown they call Umoja Village (Umoja is Swahili for "unity.") The Herald says the shantyown "stains the portrait of a city made famous by glitz and glamour but speaks for those forgotten in paradise."

Salvation Army boots volunteer

The Salvation Army kicked a former television reporter out as a volunteer at a Thanksgiving dinner, saying he turned it into an opportunity to promote himself. Howie Handsel said he was there to lend a helping hand. But sheriff's deputies were asked to escort him out after he hammed it up for television crews and turned his camera on himself. Salvation Army officials noted that in four hours, Hansel served just two soft drinks.

[Last modified November 25, 2006, 00:13:32]