"He went out simply to serve a warrant, something we do hundreds of times a day:" Sheriff

POLK COUNTY, FL — A 21-year-old Polk County sheriff's deputy has died after being shot by a stray bullet from a fellow deputy's gun, according to Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd.

Rookie patrol Deputy Blane Lane died at Lakeland Regional Health Center early Tuesday morning after being accidentally shot while serving a felony warrant with three other deputies.

At 2:07 a.m. Tuesday, a call came into the Crime Stoppers tip line reporting that Cheryl Lynn Williams, 45, who had an outstanding warrant against her for failing to show up to court on a methamphetamine possession charge, could be found at a mobile home at 4345 Foxtown S in Polk City.

Williams previously served nine years of an 11-year Florida state prison sentence for trafficking methamphetamine and has 11 felony and four misdemeanor arrests.

Polk County sheriff's Sgt. Michael Brooks, and Deputies Johnny Holsonback III, Adam Pennell and Lane arrived at the mobile home at 3:08 a.m. to arrest Williams and were greeted at the front door by two men who said Williams could be found around back.

The deputies went to the back door of the mobile home where they encountered a third man who said, "She's in here," inviting the deputies in.

Following protocol, Brooks, Holsonback and Pennell went inside while Lane took up a tactical position outside the trailer where he could see the front door in case Williams decided to run but could not be seen by those inside the mobile home.

Judd said the three other deputies entered a game room in the mobile home where they saw a meth pipe, an open can of lite beer and a Bible open to 2 Kings, Chapter 21, in which God decides to bring Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind.

The deputies initially didn't see anyone in the room. Then Williams stepped into view, pointing a gun at the deputies. Holsonback and Brooks fired their service revolvers an estimated six times. Williams was struck twice and fell to the floor, Judd said.

At the same time, said Judd, Lane called out that he'd been shot in the arm. One of the men who had answered the front door said he then saw Lane go down on one knee.

A Polk Fire Rescue crew was immediately summoned to take Lane and Williams to the hospital, where the medical staff discovered the bullet had entered Lane's shoulder and continued into his chest cavity. He died a short time later, said Judd.

Williams survived her gunshot wounds and remains in the hospital in stable condition, where she's been charged with second-degree felony murder.

It wasn't until later that the sheriff's office discovered the realistic gun Williams pointed at the deputies was actually a BB gun.

"I'm convinced she wanted the deputies to shoot her," Judd said.

Holding up a photo, he said, "This is the barrel of the gun they (the deputies) were looking down, and she knew if she pointed this gun at my deputies in the middle of the night that we would return fire to keep her from killing one of our deputies."

When deputies interviewed the man at the back door of the mobile home, he said Williams knew deputies had arrived. He said she picked up the BB gun and began to walk into the other room.

The witness said he told her, "You don't want to do that," and she replied, "Let them in."

Judd said the deputies had no way of knowing that Lane had positioned himself just outside the game room in which they encountered Williams. One of the bullets they fired went through the wall of the mobile home and struck Lane. Judd said they don't know which deputy fired the bullet that killed Lane.

"The deputies, as you can imagine, are absolutely devastated," Judd said. "He went out simply to serve a warrant, something we do hundreds of times a day. This time, there was a horrible ending, and it didn't have to happen."

If Lane had been positioned just a few inches further in either direction, Judd said he never would have been hit.

"All of this breaks our heart. Deputy Lane did exactly what he should have, was soundly positioned and protected if someone tried to shoot at him outside the door," Judd said. "He's younger than my children. This is like losing one of your kids. Words can't adequately express the grief we feel."

Judd said Lane had fulfilled a longtime goal when Judd swore him in as a patrol deputy just 10 months ago on Jan. 18.

"It was his dream to be a law enforcement officer," the sheriff said. "He was living his dream."

Despite being one of the youngest deputies at the sheriff's office, Judd said Lane showed a level of professionalism that belied his youth.

"There's not another deputy at that young age that performed at that level," Judd said. "He was just professional in every sense of the word. This young man was game-on every minute of every day. He's the epitome of what American law enforcement is about."

A resident of Fort Meade and the father of a 3-year-old child, Lane entered the Polk State College law enforcement-detention academy in September 2020 and was hired as a detention deputy in May 2021 before being assigned to the Northwest District Office as a patrol deputy.

"His friends loved him and admired him. We all did," Judd said. "He was a great deputy. He was eager. He was brilliant. He absorbed information like a sponge. And he was careful."

The sheriff's office is planning a line-of-duty death funeral with full law enforcement honors at a later date to be announced.