Man who killed FL sheriff's deputy may have had antigovernment views
Funeral services were held today in Tallahassee, Fla., for a 47-year-old sheriff’s deputy who was fatally shot Saturday by a man with antigovernment views who started his house on fire, setting a trap for first responders.
Leon County Deputy Chris Smith, a married father of two, was ambushed and shot with a 40-caliber handgun moments after arriving at the burning home of Curtis Wade Holley, 53, in the Plantation Woods neighborhood just northwest of Tallahassee, authorities say.
Another deputy, Colin Wulfekuhl, was struck in the back by a bullet, but was saved from serious injury by a vest during the 12-minute mid-day gun battle that left Holley dead outside his burning home, the Tallahassee Democrat reported.
Two Tallahassee police officers, Scott Angulo and Mark Lewis, arrived as backup four minutes after the shooting began. Angulo fatally shot Holley in the ensuring gun battle, according to various media accounts.
“We have information that we have received that this person was anti-government, was anti-establishment and had discussed at some point in time planning to harm law enforcement,” Lt. James McQuaig, a spokesman for the Leon County Sheriff’s Office, told the newspaper.
McQuaig and other sheriff’s officials, apparently attending the funeral for their slain comrade, didn’t immediately return calls today from Hatewatch seeking clarification of Holley’s “antigovernment views.”
At an earlier press briefing, the sheriff’s office spokesman said Holley “planned his attack to kill as many first responders as possible," the newspaper reported.
After starting a fire in the home where he’d lived for a year, Holley waited for it to become fully engulfed before going to his next door neighbor's house and asking her to call 911.
“It was a 100 percent ambush," McQuaig said at the press conference after the shooting. “This guy had a plan and he put this plan into action.”
Dispatchers gave first responders the neighbor’s name and address and not Holley’s name from a computer data base which presumably had a temperament warning because of his antigovernment activities.
Deputy Wulfekuhl kept the gunman engaged while warning firefighters who arrived to stay back and evacuate. Multiple engines were called to the scene of the fire.
"It is extremely important to recognize that Colin Wulfekuhl probably saved the life of every firefighter that was there initially responding," McQuaig said.
A reporter for the Tallahassee newspaper told Hatewatch that authorities investigating the shooting were being tight-lipped about Holley’s background, but did say he had a history of “antigovernment” activity.
Public records show that Holley had minor criminal records in Florida, Texas and North Carolina, including driving without a license and failure to have auto insurance.
Bill Warner, who owns a private detective agency in Sarasota, Fla., told Hatewatch that he has researched Holley’s background and is convinced from his research that Holley was a “sovereign citizen” who put his antigovernment views into action.
