Man Guilty In Fatal Shooting Of Ex-Girlfriend At Venice Bank: State

VENICE, FL — A Port Charlotte man was convicted by a 12-person jury in the 2020 fatal shooting of an ex-girlfriend in the drive-thru of a Venice bank, according to a news release from State Attorney Ed Brodsky’s office.

William Tollard was found guilty of first-degree premeditated murder for “the brutal slaying” of Angela Zeigler in the drive-up teller line at the former BB&T bank at Jacaranda Boulevard and U.S. 41.

A mandatory life sentence will be given to him by the judge presiding over the case in the next several weeks, the state attorney’s office said.

Tollard pulled directly behind Zeigler in the bank’s drive-up teller line on Oct. 5, 2020, trapping her Jeep between his truck and a work van directly in front of the teller’s window.

BB&T video surveillance footage shows that once positioned behind Zeigler, Tollas got out of his truck, walked to the driver’s side of her Jeep and fired three shots at her at close range after a brief conversation, Brodsky’s office said.

He then walked around her Jeep from behind to her front passenger window and fired two more shots at Zeigler. Her Jeep drifted forwarded about 100 yards and crashed into a light pole.

With the gun visible in his hand, Tollard walked back to his truck idling in the teller line and followed after Zeigler. He parked next to her, got out of his truck and fired several more rounds into her front windshield before driving away, the video footage shows.

During the last volley of gunshots, two eyewitnesses heard Tollard scream, “Who the (expletive) do you think you are? You can’t (expletive) do this to me,” the state attorney’s office said.

He was arrested nearby at Jacaranda Boulevard and Sklar Drive.

Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office deputies found a semi-automatic gun, a magazine with eight rounds and a pair of binoculars in his truck’s front passenger seat.

Investigators learned that Tollard and Zeigler “had a tumultuous on-again, off-again relationship” over the 18 months before her death, the state attorney’s office said.

Zeigler ended the relationship five days before the shooting on Sept. 30, 2020.

Tollard’s phone records “uncovered overwhelming evidence of (his) guilt,” Karen Fraivillig, assistant state attorney and the lead prosecutor in the case, said.

This includes “dozens of manipulative text messages to the victim, her estranged husband and other members of her family,” Fraivillig added. “The evidence established Tollard’s determination to seek revenge for being spurned by Angela Zeigler. This is a case of a man who would not take no for an answer, a classic and ultimately tragic replaying of ‘If I can’t have her,
no one can.’”