Posted on 09/30/2006 8:09:00 PM PDT by AZRepublican
LAKELAND, Fla. - Officers fired 110 rounds of ammunition at the man suspected of killing a sheriff's deputy, according to an autopsy and records released by the sheriff's office Saturday.
Angilo Freeland — who was suspected of fatally shooting the deputy after being pulled over for speeding Thursday — was hit 68 times by the SWAT team members' shots, the examination showed.
He also was suspected of wounding a deputy and killing a police dog.
Freeland's death ended a nearly 24-hour manhunt that forced schools to lock down and families to stay indoors as about 500 officers scoured the woods.
The wounded deputy had pulled Freeland over for speeding and became suspicious of his identification. The suspect got nervous and bolted into the woods, officials said.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said he was not concerned by the number of shots fired.
"You have to understand, he had already shot and killed a deputy, he had already shot and killed a K-9 and he shot and injured another deputy," Judd said by phone Saturday. "Quite frankly, we weren't taking any chances."
Ten SWAT officers surrounded Freeland on Friday as he hid beneath brush and a fallen tree in a rural area. Authorities say he raised the gun belonging to the deputy he had killed, prompting nine officers to fire.
"I suspect the only reason 110 rounds was all that was fired was that's all the ammunition they had," Judd said. "We were not going to take any chance of him shooting back."
The SWAT officers who shot Freeland have been placed on paid administrative leave, standard procedure in all police shootings.
Also released Saturday were autopsy results for the deputy, Vernon Matthew Williams, 39, which showed he had been shot eight times. He was not wearing a protective vest, but shots hit him in his right leg and behind his right ear, among other places.
Diogi, his German shepherd police dog, was also killed. The dog had been shot once in the chest.
Authorities said deputy sheriff Doug Speirs, also 39, was fired at several times and shot once in the leg. A sergeant and an officer from the Lakeland Police Department were also fired at, authorities said.
What!This is an outrage.I want answers.I want an investigation.I demand to know why the suspect wasn't given the Rodney King treatment first before they shot him 68 times.
Call it what it was, "A Public Execution". I'm not saying the guy didn't deserve to die, I just think it is questionable if 100 plus shots were needed. It is irresponsible for any group of officers to fire that much at a surrounded individual. When was the last time you heard of a war casualty hit 68 times?
Did they determine the cause of death?
With all that lead in him, the only place they can legally bury him now is in a toxic waste dump.............
What were there - 10 officers in firing range? The did the right thing, not expecting the other guys would get him. I won't be losing any sleep over this
Works for me!
"I'm sure the media will be all over this and complain of overkill..."
I'm sure that by the end of the day there will be some idiot on the news claiming this (Jesse, Al etc.) The parents of this scumbag, if he has any, will surely sue the officers for not trying to reason with him before shooting.
Go back and read my post, which clearly has a /sarcasm tag at the end of it.
dead people don't sue
Obviously the officers who shot him had no time to reload.
Trial expense = $0
20 years of appeals expense = $0
110 rounds fired with 68 finding their mark = Priceless.
The libs will say that the criminal needed counceling and that the gun did the killing, not the criminal...
Thirty-four more would be gross!
A Grenade down the spider hole would have worked wonders in that case...
110 fired, 68 hits? Alright, how do we know that some didn't go through the same hole???
This is Florida...Gator Country
the cause of death? massive acute kinetic energy poisoning.[also known as perforitis]
I read that thread.
There were a few reasonable posts, but most of them believed the dead deputy deserved what he got.
Those people at DU are repellant and most are beyond redemption.
Not if you think you are still in danger. The post reminded me about another older lady that I read about here a few years ago. Someone broke into her home and she emptied every thing she had in him. She said every time he moved she shot him.
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