Dixie mourns loss of captain in shooting
The Facebook page with almost 1,200 fans says it all:
Dixie County Cried the Day Chad Reed Died.
Another 1,300 fans have signed up at Keep Chad Reed in Our Prayers — We Love You Chad.
At 33, the Dixie County Sheriff's captain was the face of the office as its spokesman, and the face of its future as a respected lawman predicted to someday be Dixie County Sheriff.
One week ago, a man sought in the deaths of two women and the shootings of two others in Brooksville, fled up U.S. Highway 19, evading officers from Hernando, Citrus, and Levy until he pulled into a Cross City gas station, was boxed in by officers in unmarked vehicles and started shooting.
Reed, who was shot, died just hours later after being airlifted, along with the shooting suspect John Kalisz, 55, to Shands Hospital at the University of Florida.
The captain's funeral on Sunday drew a one-mile long procession of law enforcement motorcycles and vehicles from around the nation who rode down the same highway where Reed was killed.
Helicopters from various agencies did a flyover. The Alachua County Sheriff's Department provided a flag color guard. The Gainesville Police Department did a 21-gun salute.
The last call for Reed went out over the sheriff's department radio.
He leaves behind a wife, Holly, two young sons and family members. (See obituary, Page 9A.)
The 33-year-old officer was a trained paramedic, emergency service manager and a September 2009 graduate of the FBI Academy. Twenty-eight of his classmates from the FBI Academy came from around the country to attend the funeral.
Reed's duties included heading the DARE drug prevention program, the crime prevention program and the department's dive team. He was a former emergency managers association president. He wrote grants. He was active in his church and worked with youth groups.
Just days before, Reed told his pastor he was ready to go to Haiti to help in the earthquake disaster.
"Capt. Reed dedicated his life to serving others and protecting our community. He was a dedicated deputy who we were proud to know and honored to serve with," Dixie County Sheriff Dewey Hatcher said in a prepared statement. "In his final acts, Captain Reed was exhibiting the selflessness for which he was so well known. He will always be part of the Dixie County Sheriff's Office family. He will never be forgotten.”
Hatcher kept vigil at the hospital for the young man who started chasing fire trucks on his bicycle at age 5. He earned his first responder certification at age 12. He went on to be a volunteer firefighter and emergency manager. He became a lawman in 1998. In 2007, he was named a captain.
Reed's death is rare in the tri-county area, where decades pass between officers dying in the line of duty.
The last officer to die in the line of duty in Dixie County was Florida Highway Patrolman Royston Earl Walker, on Aug. 31, 1936, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial. Walker, 27, stopped a driver for operating a vehicle with faulty headlights. He stood on the running board of the suspect's car as he escorted the vehicle to the Dixie County Jail. While en route, the driver shot Walker seven times. Walker returned fire and killed the suspect.
Levy County lost a sheriff's deputy in 1945 and Gilchrist County lost two deputies — one in 1934 and the last in 1956.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating last Thursday's shooting and has taken into its possession all the weapons.
FDLE spokesman Mike Morrison said in a phone interview on Tuesday that there is no set time for completing the investigation.
The investigators are also asking that witnesses to the chain of events at King's BP station and convenience store at U.S. Highway 19 and Northeast 289th Street call FDLE at (850) 410-7000.
The series of events began in Brooksville at about 3 p.m. when four women were shot and a bulletin went out on Kalisz and his white 1998 Aerostar work van.
Kalisz was reported to be armed with two shotguns and had told a brother he would kill as many deputies as possible. Whether that information was conveyed to the agencies that followed his path north is unknown.
Hernando County Sheriff Richard Nugent said a domestic dispute led to the deaths of Kalisz’s sister, Kathryn Donovan, 61; Deborah Buckley Tillotson, 59 and the unborn baby carried by Donovan's daughter Manessa, 18. Donovan's daughter and Amy Wilson, 33, were wounded in the Brooksville shootings.
Wilson and Tillotson worked for Kathryn Donovan in her home-based fabrics business.
Levy County Sheriff's spokesman, Capt. Evan Sullivan, who has done double duty by also serving as Dixie County spokesman, said after receiving the bulletin the department prepared to intercept Kalisz at Otter Creek.
But the suspect was ahead of the bulletin as the van was reported heading into Dixie County shortly before 5 p.m.
Officers from state, county and local agencies swarmed through Chiefland dodging end-of-workday traffic as they headed into Dixie. Drivers by the dozen were pulling aside on the two-lane highway as sirens and lights flashed in rear view mirrors.
Those who did not pull over in time found officers surging past on shoulders.
Dixie County and Cross City officers were following Kalisz in unmarked vehicles, hoping to escort him past areas with people into an unpopulated area for a stop.
Kalisz changed their plans at County Road 315 and U.S. 19. He made a U-turn into the middle of three gas pump islands at the postage-stamp sized BP station on the corner.
Officers blocked the van and ordered Kalisz out with his hands up.
Kalisz instead started shooting, hitting Reed, according to officers. One minute after the officers pulled in a call went out for an ambulance for Reed, one report said.
The BP station was literally surrounded by yellow police tape, cars with blinking red and blue lights, and law enforcement officers from Levy, Dixie and Gilchrist counties, Cross City and Chiefland, U.S. Marshals, Florida Highway Patrol, Fish and Wildlife Commission, Emergency Medical Services and Emergency Management.
Sitting in the middle under the glare of lights was the white van with four bullet holes. Kalisz' weapon was on top of the vehicle. On the pavement, several feet behind the van was Reed's weapon.
State Attorney Robert L. “Skip” Jarvis Jr., arrived shortly after the shooting and watched all evening as the area was secured. Shortly behind him was the white-haired cigar chomping FDLE investigator armed with a pen, pad and questions.
As a crowd of onlookers gathered across the highway and across the street in the Foodland shopping center, the investigator was briefed by officers on the scene.
Next to the station, little work was going on in the three repair bays of King’s Auto Service Center.
One of the first people the FDLE investigator spoke to were the Levy County Sheriff’s Office forensics officers who had helped in documenting the scene, marking evidence and taking photographs.
Many officers waited throughout the evening, sharing details with each other, and hoping for word that Reed had pulled through.
At 8:30 p.m. Sullivan announced Reed had died to the two TV stations and Citizen, but asked that Reed's name be withheld Reed's parents had yet to be notified.
On Tuesday, Sullivan said: “My prayers go out to his family, friends and the Dixie County Sheriff's Office. Capt. Reed was a fine man and a great lawman. “
“I would like to see the criminal justice system do its job. I would like to see the death penalty.”