Excerpts taken from:
Ledger Article Published Thursday, September 28, 2006

Deputy Vernon Matthew (Matt) Williams, 39, was killed while chasing a man who fled a routine traffic stop on North Wabash Avenue. Sheriff Grady Judd later identified the gunman as Eswardo Ramclaim and released a photo of him.

A second deputy, Doug Speirs, 39, was wounded in the leg by the same assailant, Judd said. Spiers was taken to Lakeland Regional Medical Center and was released this evening.

Authorities are searching for a suspect described as a black male, possibly Jamaican, with dreadlocks, wearing a white t-shirt and dark slacks.

Judd said the incident started at at 11:45 when Spiers pulled the suspect over for speeding on North Wabash Avenue and the driver gave him a false identification. The man asked Spiers if he was going to jail, and the deputy replied that he didn't know, Judd said.

At some point, the man fled into some nearby woods and Spiers called for help.

Deputy Williams, a K-9 officer, arrived to provide backup. The two deputies and Williams' dog, DiOGi, went after the suspect.

Both deputies and the dog were shot, about 12:30 p.m. according to Judd. The dog was killed.
When Lakeland police arrived to help, the man came from behind a house and fired at them. The officers returned fire and the man fled.

He has not been captured despite a massive manhunt in the area around Kathleen High School. "Listen to me folks," Judd said. "We will find him. We will bring him to justice, and the sooner the better." He continued: "We will not sleep. We will not rest until we have the suspect in custody for this heinous action today." Officers arrived en masse from neighboring counties to assist in the search.

Williams had been with the sheriff's office since April 1994. He leaves behind a wife and three children. Speirs, a six-year veteran deputy, is married with two sons. Judd called Williams "a fine man," and "a dedicated deputy."

About 30 law enforcement officers in body armor staged near Kathleen High School. As police searched for the shooter, Kathleen High, McKeel Academy of Applied Technology and Winston Elementary went into lockdown and students were kept inside the schools. Parents were asked to not come to the schools right away to pick up their children