Orlando City Council
Suspect labeled dangerous before incident, records show
will consider a plan to create an interim memorial site at the Pulse nightclub by adding a new fence, bench seating for visitors to the site, and improved landscaping.
New evidence released in the case of a man accused of killing two Kissimmee Police officers in August offers more details about the night of the shooting, as well as what led to an involuntary mental health hospitalization a month earlier.
Everett Glenn Miller, 46, is accused of shooting Kissimmee Police Sgt. Richard “Sam” Howard and Officer Matthew Baxter in the head on Aug. 18. He was arrested that night at a bar.
But Osceola County deputies had encountered Miller on July 11, when he walked into a grocery store with a rifle after a fight with his stepfather.
“There is a substantial likeliKey hood that without care or treatment, he will cause serious bodily harm to himself or others,” a deputy wrote in July. He suggested Miller be charged with improper display of a firearm, a misdemeanor.
Miller’s family has said he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and that going back to civilian life after two decades in the U.S. Marine Corps was difficult.
Miller got into an argument with his stepfather July 11, records show. Miller was “furious,” his stepfather later told deputies. He started slapping his chest and yelling, “I’ll kill you, daddy.”
Then Miller stripped to his underwear. His stepfather saw him leave with a rifle in hand.
Miller went to the nearby West Market on Old Dixie Highway. He walked into the store with the rifle visible but not pointed at anyone, records show.
He then walked two doors down to a barbershop and asked employees to call the police, claiming someone had pulled a gun on him.
Deputies found him without his rifle in the parking lot of the Osceola County Jail.
Deputies took Miller to a hospital. They never found the rifle, though a few people near the market said they saw minors take a firearm out of a canal.
“Everett appeared to be delusional, irrational, with periods of aggression,” a deputy wrote.
A month later, Miller appears to have barged into a conversation Baxter was having on a Kissimmee street, records show.
Maribel King Garcia told officers she was hanging out with two men. Baxter was patrolling, saw a beer can on the ground and asked whose it was, tipping it over with his foot.
Miller drove up as they were talking.
“Why are you (expletive) with my people?” Miller said, according to Garcia. “The police are (expletive).”
Miller asked for a sergeant, and Baxter called for Howard.
As they spoke, Miller put his hands on top of his head and said, “I’m in fear of my life.”
“I’m a veteran, and I have a right to carry concealed,” he said.
Howard’s demeanor changed, Garcia said, and the sergeant told them to leave.
They walked toward Main Street, when they heard two or three gunshots, Garcia said.
A neighbor called 911, and officers rushed to the scene to try to revive Baxter and Howard. Officers screamed Howard’s name and told him to wake up while performing chest compressions. Howard coughed up blood.
Other officers tried to give Baxter chest compressions. But he was not breathing and did not have a pulse, records show.
Miller went to Roscoe’s, a bar on Orange Blossom Trail, and ordered a mixed drink. He seemed calm, a bartender said.
Another man walked into the bar, went up to Miller and called him a “cop killer.” Miller quipped back “snitch,” witnesses told officers.
After his arrest at Roscoe’s, Miller denied wrongdoing and told police not to kill him. But as officers led him down the department stairs to take him to a hospital for rib pain, Miller repeated the words, “I’m sorry.”
“Just kill me now,” Miller said on the stretcher. “I killed,” he said. “Them.”
Miller is being held in the Osceola County Jail. His next court hearing is scheduled for December. glotan@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5774; ktorralva @orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5417