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NEWS RELEASE For Immediate
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Clearwater investigators released Wednesday morning four segments of two camera's surveillance video that captured a hotel robbery in progress during which a 64-year-old unarmed security guard, William T. Williams, was shot dead by the robber when he walked toward the unfolding pre-dawn robbery. The Friday, September 22, slaying at the Fairfield Inn & Suites in eastern Clearwater happened out of range of the cameras. After a week of technical work to retrieve the video from a digital surveillance system, Clearwater Detectives released video today showing the assailant pointing a handgun at the hotel desk clerk and another employee; neither was injured. The robber, whose movements are documented by the surveillance video, is a Caucasian man believed to be in his 20s or 30s, 6 feet tall and weighing around 200 pounds. He was wearing dark clothes - including a long-sleeve T-shirt - a dark baseball cap with a light-colored emblem, and light-colored hockey mask similar to the unadorned white full-face mask worn by "Jason" in the movie "Friday the 13th." The video (watch
video), comprised of two sections of each of two videos recorded
by separate cameras, shows the robber entering the 3070 Gulf-to-Bay
Boulevard hotel lobby at about 5:30 a.m. brandishing a handgun. The robber returns to the clerk and drops a white bag over the desk; he has what appears to be a satchel strapped over his left shoulder, the dark bag itself resting on his right hip. The first of two parts of each surveillance camera is ended just before the assailant walks out of camera range and shoots Mr. Williams, the unarmed security guard. The second segment of each video shows the bandit back at the desk, collecting the white bag before leaving through the hotel's main entrance. The surveillance videotape also documents a car pulling up to the entry doors of the hotel as the robbery and shooting unfold. Detectives identified and have interviewed the driver of that car. Investigators are hoping someone - in viewing the pictures or video of the robbery - will recognize the gunman and call the agency's Major Case Line at 727-562-4422. For additional information about this case, please contact Public Information Officer Wayne Shelor at 727-562-4333. A reward is offered for information regarding this case.
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