Frederick Williams

Case overview

Frederick Williams was an off-duty firefighter who killed his wife and set fire to his house. He then opened fire on arriving police and firefighters, killing three. A sheriff’s deputy was also killed. Williams was shot and wounded by police. He was later found not guilty by reason of insanity and returned to a secure state mental hospital.

The offence

Authorities said Williams stepped out of the garage of his home during a house fire and began shooting. A fellow firefighter burst out the garage firing a shotgun and screaming "Get away! Get away!" Authorities said two firefighters and a sheriff's deputy were killed, and a woman was found dead in the garage.

The fires and shooting resulted in four deaths:

• Williams’s wife, Stacey Williams
• Firefighters William Blakemore and Javier Lerma
• Sheriff’s deputy Rupert Peete

Investigation

Police Director Walter E. Crews said Williams was wounded and was undergoing surgery.

Investigators said Williams made a confession during an interview from his hospital bed but did not answer the question everyone wants to know: Why?

A bystander, Debra Gatewood, was wounded by gunfire and later reported details of the events to police and in an interview.

Frederick Williams’s brother, Larry Williams, said Williams had enjoyed his job until recent personal problems developed, but Larry Williams would not elaborate.

Background and personal history

Frederick Williams had been a Memphis firefighter for six years, according to reporting. He had enjoyed his job until recent personal problems developed, according to his brother Larry Williams.

Freeman Nelson, Williams’s neighbor and longtime friend, said Williams may have tried to end his own life four months before the ambush by ingesting rat poison around Thanksgiving at the family’s South Memphis home. Nelson said: "‘You know, any time someone takes rat poison, they've got to have troubles in their mind,’ Nelson said Thursday."

Stacey Williams’s former husband, Herman Harrison Jr., said he remembered Stacey as having liked picnics in the park, taking the kids to Chuck E Cheese's, and working the sound board during church services, including "that crazy smile of hers." Harrison said: "He would not elaborate."

Trial

Charges

Frederick Williams was charged with murdering his wife, two Fire Department colleagues, and a sheriff's deputy.

In addition to the four first-degree murder charges, he faced one count of attempted murder and one count of aggravated arson.

Williams was undergoing surgery when he was wounded, and he was then in the prison ward of the Regional Medical Center at Memphis.

Sentencing and verdict

Frederick Williams was found not guilty by reason of insanity in May 2006 and returned to a secure state mental hospital.

Outcome

A former Memphis firefighter accused of murdering two firefighters, a sheriff’s deputy and his wife in March 2000 was found "not guilty by reason of insanity" in a Memphis court in May 2006. The outcome resulted in his return to a secure state mental hospital.

Aftermath

People killed

In March 2000, Stacey Williams, firefighters Javier Lerma and William Blakemore, and deputy Rupert Peete, Jr. were killed at Frederick Williams’ home.

Survivor account

Debra Gatewood described being on her way to the bank and seeing smoke dissipating into warm air. She said she slowed her vehicle and called the Fire Department after noticing the house was afire at 4217 Germantown Road S., at Bay Hollow Cove. She warned people away, saying: "No! Don't get near the house, because it's liable to explode! And you don't want to be there. Just back up! I've already called the Fire Department,"

Gatewood recalled hearing shouts that "There's a guy in the carport!" and that "he said he just wants to be left alone! Just leave him alone!"

Gatewood identified Frederick Williams as the man who wanted to be left alone. She said she started across the street and the green and white Shelby County sheriff's cruiser driven by Peete stopped. She said she knocked on the deputy’s window and told him: "There's a man in the carport, and he says he just wants to be left alone.' I said, 'Be careful.'"

Gatewood said the man with the cell phone yelled that the deputy had been shot. She said she felt her jaw and knew she had been shot too, and she recalled seeing the man with the long gun moving into shooting position. She said: "I'm holding my mouth. I knew I was shot. I knew that all my teeth were out on this side. I didn't know the severity of it. But I knew I could walk and move around and that kind of stuff. So the guy that had the cell phone, he turned around and called 911 and he told them that the police officer had just been shot, that we needed an ambulance, that I'd been shot."

Gatewood described taking cover in the small entryway, beating on the front door, and being pinned down after the occupant locked the door while gunfire erupted across the street. She said the man with the cell phone told her that the firefighters had been shot. She then said she remembered Williams started shooting from across the street toward her and recalled: "He was coming toward us. And we were scared to death. We thought he was coming."

Gatewood reported that a Memphis police car roared up. She said Williams was down within moments, felled by gunshots from law-enforcement officers. She said she ran toward a parked truck and asked someone to place a call for her so she could tell her son she had been shot.

Gatewood stated she was a 46-year-old Home Depot employee and was still at home recuperating about a mile from the shooting scene. She said her jaw would be wired shut for six weeks and she would require plastic surgery to minimize damage to her face. She said she was still experiencing hot sweats and a clammy feeling across her back and arms.

Gatewood also said: "I just really want to go on, with whatever. And get it past, behind me. There's not a whole lot more that I remember than I did when I told the police officer the very first day." "I feel sorry for the people that died in it." "I feel sorry for the woman across the street that got scared and wouldn't let us in." "I don't have anything against the guy who did this." "Maybe I should, but I don't." "The man had to have had problems somehow. That's just the way I am." "I don't hold anything against that situation." "I just want to go back, go on to work and try to forget everything. And go on with my day."

Other details

Gun rights and domestic violence context

As a defendant in a domestic violence case, Frederick Williams may have been about to lose his right to own firearms when he allegedly went on a shooting rampage Wednesday.

A 1996 amendment to the federal Gun Control Act prohibits misdemeanor offenders in domestic violence cases from possessing guns and ammunition. People under restraining orders for domestic violence are forbidden firearms. The quote about firearm-ownership was: "‘It doesn't matter if they've had (the gun) a day or 20 years. That ends their firearm-ownership.’"

Firefighter employment history and leave

Authorities said the man suspected of killing two firefighters, a deputy and his recent bride had been a Memphis firefighter for six years. He was described as having been just back from an unspecified leave for "assistance."

Suspect’s statements about mental state

A former Memphis firefighter accused of the killings made statements in the past to a judge that he was the "son of God" and that a "New World Order" had implanted a microchip in his body to spy on him.

He had been in a state mental hospital for three years after being diagnosed as depressed, psychotic and delusional.

Confession