Copyright 2006 The Commercial Appeal, Inc.
By LAWRENCE BUSER
The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)
A most unusual home video shown in court Tuesday captured a former firefighter casually pacing in his driveway, puffing a cigarette and carrying a shotgun shortly after killing four people and setting his house on fire.
The one-minute video taken by a neighbor also shows firefighters working over a fallen comrade as defendant Frederick Williams walks nearby holding the shotgun and confronting law enforcement officers.
The tape ends with Williams falling after being wounded by a sheriff’s deputy less than 10 yards away.
“He faced us and starts towards us and that (shotgun) barrel starts coming down through the smoke and I fired two rounds,” said deputy Winfred Earl Blankenship, who also had a shotgun. “He pulled a gun on me after being told at least three times to drop the weapon. It was time to do something.”
The video and testimony came on the second day of Williams’ first-degree murder trial before Criminal Court Judge Arthur Bennett who will decide whether Williams is guilty as charged or not guilty by reason of insanity. Williams waived his right to a jury trial.
He faces up to life in prison or indefinite commitment to a mental facility. Williams, 47, has spent the past four years at Middle Tennessee Mental Health Institute in Nashville being treated for a variety of issues, including paranoid schizophrenia.
He has admitted fatally shooting his wife, Stacey Williams; fellow firefighters Javier Lerma and William Blakemore and sheriff’s deputy Rupert Peete Jr.
Prosecutors said Williams shot his wife four times as she walked into the kitchen at midday, set the house on fire and then ambushed Peete, Lerma and Blakemore as they arrived to help.
Much of the day’s testimony came from firefighters dispatched to the smoky, chaotic scene on March 8, 2000, at 4217 Germantown Road South.
The first fire department vehicle on the scene was a four-man pumper carrying Lerma and Blakemore. Lerma was shot moments after exiting the vehicle. Blakemore was killed before he could get out of his seat behind the driver, George Langston.
“I heard a loud noise and then I heard glass shattering toward me,” said firefighter Lorenzo King, the fourth member of the pumper. “I saw Blakemore and his head jerked a little and then he slumped forward in his seat. I said ‘George, someone’s shooting at us.’''
Langston pulled the vehicle forward about 40 feet to safety as more trucks were arriving.
“I started flagging them down,’' King said. “I said ‘Someone’s shooting at us.’ It was just total disbelief.’”
In other testimony, paramedics told of trying to help their wounded colleagues even as the shotgun-wielding Williams continued to prowl the area.
“He looked at us and lowered the gun at us,” said firefighter-paramedic Mark Eskew, who was among several working on Lerma. “Initially I was so wrapped up in what was going on, but looking back I probably could have been shot. It was probably pretty stupid. I was yelling at the officers to shoot him the whole time.”
Eskew can be seen briefly on the home video made by James Scott Merrill, who said he had to duck down in his car several times while filming to avoid becoming a target himself.
The trial resumes today.
- Lawrence Buser: 529-2385
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On the Web
To see the video of Frederick Williams after he shot his wife, set his house on fire and ambushed emergency responders, go to commercialappeal.com and click on the link to this story.