Motive in deputy killings may never be known

TRENTON, Fla. — Investigators in Florida say they may never know why a man — a recluse from a rural farm community who rarely ventured into town — killed two deputy sheriffs while they sat in a Chinese restaurant.

John Hubert Highnote, 58, of Bell, casually walked into the restaurant, went up to the Gilchrest County deputies and fired at them. He then went into his car and killed himself.

“It’s inexplicable,” State Attorney Bill Cervone said. “People will want to know why, and we may never have an answer for them.”

Highnote came from a small town just up the road from the Ace China restaurant in Trenton, about 35 miles west of Gainesville. He lived alone in a small, brick house off a dirt road under a canopy of trees.

A neighbor who has lived across the street for five Ramirez Lindsey

years said Highnote never introduced himself and was rarely seen in town.

“I’d see him pull in, shut the garage and go in. No lights on or nothing,” said the neighbor, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Gilchrest County Sheriff Bobby Schultz blamed the deaths of Sgt. Noel Ramirez, 30, and Deputy Taylor Lindsey, 25, on hatred toward law enforcement.

“What do you expect happens when you demonize law enforcement to the extent it’s been demonized? Every type of hate, every type of putdown you can think of,” Schultz said at a news conference.

“The only thing these men were guilty of is wanting to protect you and me. They just wanted to get something to eat, and they just wanted to do their job,” he said.

“Sgt. Ramirez and Deputy Lindsey were the best of the best.”

President Donald Trump called the slain deputies “HEROES” in a tweet sharing his condolences.

Highnote bought his house in Bell in 2010, property records show. He’d had one traffic ticket in Gilchrist County over the past eight years.

Prior to moving to Bell, records show Highnote lived in St. Petersburg, where he had more runins with law enforcement, including being arrested for carrying a concealed firearm in 1978, a felony charge dropped after he successfully completed a pre-trial intervention, Pinellas County court records show.

Ramirez is survived by his wife and two young children.

Lindsey joined the sheriff’s office in 2013.