The Orlando Sentinel reports two Polk County Deputies were shot on duty this morning during a traffic stop. Deputy Vernon Mathew (Matt) Williams, 39, and his police dog, Diogi, were both killed. Deputy Doug Speirs, 39, was shot in the leg and survived. There is also a report at The Ledger, a newspaper from Lakeland, FL.
All of this took place this morning near Kathleen High School. As noted on the Sentinel’s Crime Blog, the national media is playing up this shooting quite a bit, perhaps because it comes a day after a high profile shooting in Colorado. Police from all over the region are coming to Lakeland to assist in the manhunt.
I’m more concerned about shootings here in Central Florida. This morning, WESH News reported incidents of apartment robbers on a crime spree in the MetroWest area last night. As deputies were investigating the first crime, the robbers moved on to attack other apartments. They pistol-whipped one victim and shot another in the back. There’s no link between these two crimes at this time, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the man who shot the deputies was also involved in last night’s attacks.