TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — The Tampa Police Department held a memorial service for a fallen officer on the 50th anniversary of his sacrifice.
The ceremony was for Officer Anthony Williams, who was killed at the age of 27 while interrupting an armed robbery at a convenience store.
According to the Tampa Police Department, Williams had gone into the store while his wife and Tampa PD’s first female patrol officer, Ann Williams, and their 4-year-old son stayed in the car.
“We had to have milk for the baby’s breakfast, and I had already admonished him because he was supposed to get it,” Ann Williams said. “And the way he picked me up from work, because that’s where we were coming from. He had just picked me up from the back of 1710 10th Street, and when we pulled up to the 7-Eleven, we had no idea what was getting ready to happen.”
When Anthony Williams approached, he saw three suspects robbing the store and crouched near the entrance, calling for his wife’s weapon to confront the suspects.
“I could see inside,” Ann Williams said. “I could see Paulette Pearson behind the counter. I knew her from every day. She was all taped up. They had put tape all over her. I guess to keep her still. When I realized what was going on, I threw the kid in the back of the car, fast and hard as I could. I said, ‘stay down and don’t get up until I come and get you.'”
When Anthony reached for his wife’s gun, the robbers walked out the door and shot him.
“Both of them beat out the door,” Ann said. “One hit the ground in front of me to my right, and the other one kept going. I retrieved my gun, pulled it up, and I shot him three times.”
She cuffed up the one who fell on the ground and checked on the other suspect, Vito Mikenas, to see if he was still alive. Auxiliary Deputy Gary Barker of the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, who was in a back room as part of an anti-robbery detail, also emerged and shot another suspect.
Ann then ran to her husband and tried to revive him with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, but the gunshot was fatal.
“I held him the whole time he died, with my 4-year-old watching,” she said. “I could see his little face up over the edge of the window.”
Ann described her husband as “an incredibly great guy” who served in Vietnam before his parents suffered an accident that required him to care for them until they became well again.
“He was a good man and a good husband,” she said.
All three defendants were convicted in the robbery and death of Anthony Williams. At the time, he was the third TPD officer who died in a three-month span, the department said.
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