Prayers, questions in wake of killings
Officials still don’t know why officers were shot
KISSIMMEE — The Kissimmee police officers lingered by the blood stains in the concrete.
By late Sunday afternoon, the crowd of mourners had thinned as neighbors rode away on bicycles or walked back to their homes. Residents and city leaders, some wearing their Sunday best, quietly left after praying and hugging and crying in the parking lot under the trees covered with Spanish moss.
Yet the police officers remained for a long moment after the vigil was over.
They huddled together and locked arms over the spot on Palmway Street where Sgt. Richard “Sam” Howard and Officer Matthew Baxter had been shot Friday night.
One man knelt down and held his left hand on the ground, letting it rest there before he walked away wiping his tears.
More than 100 people gathered — neighbors, religious leaders and law-enforcement personnel from the Kissimmee Police Department and Osceola County Sheriff ’s Office — to pay their respects.
Pastor Israel Calderon of The Hope Mission Church, a few
steps from the shooting, organized the service and said he was grateful and surprised by the attendance.
They prayed for Baxter’s and Howard’s families. They prayed for Kissimmee to be strong and come together. They prayed for the terrible tragedy captured in the news not to mark the city forever. They prayed to turn something bad into something good.
“We’re a strong community,” Kissimmee Mayor Jose Alvarez told the crowd, promising to assemble a roundtable so the community and the police can talk to each other.
At one point, he fought back tears.
The message of the day was to thank law-enforcement officers as they mourned.
The worshipers gave hearty handshakes and patted them on the back.
“Thank you for your service,” said one woman as she hugged an officer who was a stranger.
Near what had been a crime scene was a makeshift memorial of balloons, burning candles and flowers.
Police say Everett Glenn Miller, 45, fired on the two officers about 9:30 p.m. Friday near Cypress Street and then fled. He was arrested two hours later at a Kissimmee bar about a half-mile away, a little north of downtown.
Baxter was pronounced dead a short time later. Howard died Saturday at Osceola Regional Medical Center.
A woman wanted for questioning in connection with the shooting was found Sunday and interviewed by detectives.
Police had been looking for Maribel Gonzalez King for most of the day because she is known to frequent the north Kissimmee neighborhood where the shooting happened.
She is not a suspect, police said, but they wouldn’t disclose what she said or what relationship, if any, she has to the case.
Earlier Sunday, Miller, a veteran of the Marine Corps, faced a judge for the first time since his arrest. He wore an orange and white jail jumpsuit and was escorted into the courtroom by a pair of corrections officials.
As a judge formally read Miller his charges — premeditated first-degree murder in Baxter’s killing, resisting arrest and carrying a concealed weapon — he nodded his head and looked at his public defender. He spoke only to tell the judge his name and date of birth.
They ordered him held without bail at the Osceola County Jail. Miller hasn’t been arrested in Howard’s death, but a Kissimmee police spokeswoman said additional charges will be filed.
Neither officer had a chance to shoot at Miller, Kissimmee police Chief Jeff O’Dell said.
After about two minutes in front of the judge, corrections officials escorted Miller to the rear of the room, where he was locked in a cage. He met with his public defender there for about 45 minutes.
Funeral arrangements for the two officers have not been confirmed, said Stacie Miller, a department spokeswoman. The department will announce service information when it’s available and whether the public is welcome.
Baxter, a three-year department veteran, stopped Everett Miller minutes before their fatal encounter because he was in a group of three people the officer deemed “suspicious,” O’Dell said. The chief did not elaborate.
Howard, an Army veteran who was on the force for 10 years, came to assist Baxter. The shots were reported within five minutes, O’Dell.
Miller has no criminal record in Florida, but the Osceola County Sheriff ’s Office recently took him into custody under Florida’s Baker Act, which allows temporary involuntary commitment of mentally ill people thought to be dangerous to themselves or others. No details have been released.
The city has set up an account at SunTrust bank and says 100 percent of the money will be given to the families of the slain officers. Kissimmee police shut down a scam GoFundMe account and have endorsed only the bank account. Contributions can be made at any SunTrust branch.
However, a GoFundMe vice president said in a tweet that a verified account exists for each of the officers.
Baxter, 27, a father of four, was married to a detective from the Kissimmee Police Department.
Howard, 36, who was promoted to sergeant last month, was married to a teacher and was the father of a teenager.
The lights at the lakefront in neighboring St. Cloud will be lit in blue today in their honor.