A Florida woman has been charged with second-degree murder in the death of a 21-year-old sheriff’s deputy who was struck by friendly fire while serving a felony arrest warrant early Tuesday.
Cheryl Lynn Williams, 46, faces 13 felony charges after Polk County Deputy Sheriff Blane Lane was killed in the line of duty in Polk City, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday.
Lane and three other deputies had arrived around 3 a.m. at a residence to take Williams into custody on an outstanding felony warrant for failure to appear on a possession of methamphetamine charge.
When Williams pointed what investigators described as a “very realistic-looking BB gun” at deputies, two of the deputies opened fire, officials said. One round struck Lane, who was posted outside at the front of the trailer, in his left arm.
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Williams faces 13 felony charges in connection with the death of Lane.
(Polk County Sheriff’s Office )
The bullet entered his chest and he died at Lakeland Regional Health Medical Center.
“[Williams] made the choice to hide, and then to jump out while pointing a gun at them,” Sheriff Grady Judd said in a written statement.
“Now she is responsible for the death of Deputy Lane, a young man who had his entire life ahead of him, eager to serve the people of Polk County while making a positive difference as a law enforcement officer,” the sheriff continued.
Lane had dreamed of becoming a Polk County sheriff since he was in grade school, according to a year book photo posted to social media by Scott Lake Elementary School.
(Polk County Sheriff’s Office )
Williams was shot multiple times and treated at a hospital, where she remains in stable condition.
During a search of the residence, deputies found several firearms on a gun rack attached to a hallway wall. The firearms included: a Marlin model 99M1 .22 caliber rifle with scope and one live round in the chamber and seven rounds in the magazine tube; a Connecticut Valley Arms, Inc. single-shot 12-gauge shotgun; and a bolt-action 410-gauge shotgun with one live round in the chamber.
Deputies salute the flag-draped body of a Polk County Deputy Sheriff Blane Lane, 21, as they place him into an ambulance on Tuesday morning.
(FOX13 Tampa WTVT)
Williams is also charged with three counts of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, three counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, three counts of resisting arrest, two counts of possession of ammunition by a convicted felon and possession of methamphetamine.
Williams will be booked into the Polk County Jail when she is released from the hospital.
Deputies also arrested two other convicted felons who lived at the residence.
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Donald Mathis, 72, and Joseph Larry Albritton, 55, were each charged with three counts possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and five counts possession of ammunition by a convicted felon. Albritton was also charged with violation of probation.
Mathis faced additional charges of possession of meth and possession of paraphernalia after detectives found a small plastic baggie in his bedroom with a substance that tested positive for meth, along with three boxes of ammunition.
