Tallahassee Democrat from Tallahassee, Florida • Page A5

TALLAHASSEE DEMOCRAT 5A PROFILE OF A SHOO TER TIMELINE LATE OCTOBER The woman he had lived with for about a year left him. She fled the house, abandoning everything her car, her clothes, her books. NOV. 20 The woman he had lived with asked that utility services be stopped. NOV.

21 11:40 A.M. Power was turned off at the house. 12:03 P.M. Anon-account holder thought to be Holley called the utility to find out what was rong. He learned service was cut off.

LATER THAT AFTERNOON The woman went into the utility walk- i desk at the Renaissance Building and established a password or her account. FRIDAY NIGHT Holley went next door and asked to charge his phone because the house power was out. He charged his phone on the neighbor's front porch. NOV. 22 MORNING Holley runs next door, asking his neighbor to call 911be- cause his house is on fire 10:10 A.M.

The first 911call rep orting a house on fire on Caracus Court. Deputies Chris Smith and Colin Wulfekuhl arrive first on the scene. Smith reports smoke and flames. Just 28 seconds later, Smith tries to contact dispatch. His all is answered but there is no esponse.

10:22 A.M. Four more people call 911in rapid succession, reporting gunfire. 10:33 A.M. After a 12-minute gun attle, Curtis Wade Holley was finally brought down by off-duty Tallahassee police officer Scott Ang ulo. JOE RONDONE DEMOCRAT The Caracus Court street sign stands at the only entrance into the dead-end street where Leon County eputy Christopher Smith was gunned down.

Memphis, Arkansas. Mark Potok, editor of the Hate- watch blog and a national expert on extremists, said sovereign citizens get into shootouts with police, but that Holley who was not nown to the organization does not appear to it the mold. hard to see where the ideology is in this particular attack other than simply attacking he said. But Bill Warner, a private investigator based in Sarasota, said Holley may have hared the same beliefs as sovereign citizens. said Holley may have drawn inspiration rom others with anti-government views, including so-called Martin Winters, recently sentenced to federal prison for stockpiling explosives at his Tampa-area ome for use in the apocalypse.

A lot of these guys go out and get very he said. keep it During the Caracus Court incident, a dispatcher asked a woman who lived three doors away from Holley if she could identify the hooter she was watching outside her window. No, never seen this guy she aid. A low profile little information about Holley in public records and less still on the Internet. He a pparently had no Facebook or Twitter accounts.

One of the few indications online that he ever even existed is a June 3, 1982, clip from is hometown newspaper, the Spring Hope, N.C., Enterprise, announcing his mar- iage. The announcement notes that Holley graduated in 1979 from Southern Nash Senior High School, just a short drive south from the fam- i home. His father officiated at the ceremony May 1, 1982, at Faith Baptist Church in Tallahassee, and his brother served as best man. The couple planned to reside in Kenedy, Texas, atiny town of less than 3,500 people, where his parents lived. After that, public databases show the couple lived in Louisiana.

Holley also at various times lived in Houston, San Antonio and Austin, Texas. In 2000, he took an entry-level, administrative job in the Houston office of company alled Landmark, which offers personal- and professional-development courses worldwide, a company spokeswoman said. His duties anged from data entry and record-keeping to setting up tables and chairs for course partici- ants. Holley, who participated in Landmark rograms himself, left the job after a few months and had no further association with the ompany. At the time of his wedding, he worked for Chevron.

Public records suggest he may have eld jobs with advertising, marketing and graphics businesses in Texas, some of which now appear to be defunct. I 2000, a woman sued him in small-claims court in Travis County, Texas, saying he owed her about $4,600 outstanding from a promissory note, according to court records. has paid on the account on occasion at imes and steady other the woman wrote in her complaint. November of 1999, I have not received payment nor has he been in communication with me to make ar- angements. This is a pattern that frequently occurs with Mr.

ourt records show deputies tried to serve im papers several times but find im. He never appeared in court, prompting a efault judgment against him. I unclear when he returned to Florida. A public records search associated his name ith a house owned by his father on Louvinia Drive that neighbors say has been unoccupied for about a year. He never registered to vote in Leon County and has no voting history in Florida dating back to at least 2006.

Public records show he had only relatively minor run-ins with the law. I 2004, he was arrested outside Austin for driving with a suspended license, booked into the county jail and released the same day. He as convicted and fined $500. In 1980, when he was 19 years old, he got a speeding ticket in Franklin County, North Carolina, and paid a 50 fine. is Texas arrest left behind the only photo- raph of him found in Internet searches, a mug shot of him sneering into the camera.

with a The night before rampage, hours after the power had been cut off, he knocked on the door of a neighbor to see if he could charge his cellphone. She saw him so infre- uently; at first she recognize him. She ever knew his name. and his girlfriend were moving on Dec. 1, Holley lied, and the power had been shut off early.

She offered to let him in, but Holley asked if he could use an outdoor outlet instead. He want to bother her, he said. came back the next morning, hollering or her to call 911. lots of smoke and I see she told a dispatcher. came over and banged on my door, what I know.

get- ing my olley can be heard on the recording oughing and saying it was too smoky to get the car out of the garage. As she stood outside with him, waiting for the fire trucks to arrive, Holley asked her to all his girlfriend and let her know what was appening. Another woman, who moments late would duck into the ditch, walked up and offered to make the call. He wanted his girlfriend to know was but she could not be reached. The neighbor, fearing her house would catch fire, went back inside to grab her keys a nd dog and backed her car to the end of the driveway.

She went back inside to get her urse just as the deputies arrived, heard tinny popping sounds and looked out the window. saw a policeman on the she said. was the worst thing ever seen in my After killing Smith, Holley turned his atten- ion to Wulfekuhl, who was waving back the first fire truck. Another neighbor watched as Holley stalked the deputy down the street and through her yard. Bullets struck her truck.

olley paused right outside her front window as she narrated his movements to a dispatcher. Their eyes locked. eyes just looked the woman told the Tallahassee Democrat. smile. He move.

He could have laid me out right there, but he just stood there and stared at me. I think he was out to hurt anyone, except someone with a Legacy Seven weeks later, the crime-scene tape and undreds of evidence markers that littered Caracus Court in the aftermath of the attack a re long gone. The constant stream of cars ruising by the crime scene has slowed. But the fallout from that day remains pal- able. Left to make sense of the unexplainable is grieving widow and two young children, a bereft first-responder family, a sad- ened community and a stunned neighborhood.

was a complete shock to said Joseph mall, who lives two doors away from the burned-out home. still shaken up just talking about When the bullets were flying, Small grabbed a shotgun and had his wife and 9- onth-old son hide in the bathtub. He saw Smith, lying lifeless 150 feet from his front door. During the holidays, his family said prayers for the loved ones. I hate that someone would abuse the system by calling in a fire just to attack an officer ike Small said.

Hopefully, nothing like that will ever hap- en to an officer I the days after the shooting, another eighbor who witnessed killing set up amemorial in his honor at the end of the street. he lights candles there every night not raining. On Christmas and New Day, she let them burn all day. say, night, every she said. For her, the reminders are everywhere.

The blood-stained street. The charred remains of he house. The cat that survived the inferno and wails from the rubble each night. moved a homemade sign with tributes Smith from the roadside memorial to her front porch to keep it out of the elements. She added her own message to the fallen deputy.

our hero, we thank you so ou will forever be in my Continued 4A Shooter JOE RONDONE DEMOCRAT Community members and law enforcement officials gathered at Dick Howser Stadium for a vigil to celebrate the life of Deputy Chris Smith, who was killed in the line of duty..