3 Friends Slain While Preparing to Fish at Florida Lake

[raccoon]

POLK COUNTY
3 Friends Slain While Preparing to Fish at Florida Lake
By Brendan Farrington • Published July 18, 2020 • Updated on July 18, 2020 at 5:39 pm

Three friends were slain just moments after gathering together for some night fishing at a lake in central Florida, authorities said Saturday. They were found by the father of one of the men who managed to call for help just before he died.

Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, who has worked at the department since 1972, described the killings at a Frostproof lake a “massacre.” He said the men were beaten and shot.

Killed were Damion Tillman, 23; Keven Springfield, 30; and Brandon Rollins, 27.
Judd said this is what investigators believe happened: Tillman arrived at the lake first to meet his friends for “night fishing” for catfish. When Rollins and Springfield arrived, they saw Tillman being beaten. The attackers then began shooting them.

Rollins was still alive when the attackers left and called his father for help. His father rushed to the fishing spot about 10 minutes away, but forgot his cellphone in the hurry to help his son. He drove to a nearby convenience store, and the clerk helped him reach authorities, but by the time they arrived, Rollins had died.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/3-friends-slain-while-preparing-to-fish-at-florida-lake/2264352/%3famp

[SamKnause]

1. Link doesn't work.

Page not found.

[2naSalit]

2. Link says nothing to see here...

But I would wager a guess that they were not white.

[raccoon]

3. The link has been fixed. Sorry about that.

Yeah they were white.

[2naSalit]

4. Okay, thanks.

[oldsoftie]

5. Why would you assume they're not white? I'll take that bet.

Country nightfishing for catfish sounds like what a TON of white people I know do. I've done it but never a big fan. I like relaxing fishing and this is more work and more mosquitos.

Edit: I would bet this will be a bigger story, since its very odd that these guys would happen upon another GROUP who happen to be violent. Hopefully they get a break in this.

[Mike 03]

8. I'd take that bet too.

[MrsCoffee]

15. All three were white.

[StarfishSaver]

17. They were white

[Cha]

6. ...

[Mike 03]

7. I wonder if Tillman was the target and the other two were killed because

they were witnesses. Just a pure guess based on very little information. Beating is a very interpersonal crime. Then the two others show up and the guns come out and the suspects just want to finish the job and get out of there.

[Ligyron]

9. The victims had to have known their attackers.

The level of violence the Sheriff describes means it is most likely personal.

Plus, like he said, in a rural setting with such a sparse population the chances of them running into one another randomly are pretty small.

[Mike 03]

11. Yes, I wonder if they were following Tillman, unaware that he was

planning to meet up with the other two.

It seems to me like if all three were targets, the perpetrators would have waited until all three were present to attack them.

Also, you could really be onto something because one question is, Why didn't the other two run away when they saw Tillman being attacked, rather than approach close enough to where they could be shot.

It does seem like they may have recognized each other.

Maybe they weren't really going fishing at all, but had arranged a meeting.

[Ligyron]

18. I was going to mention that possibility.

Hard to know from the little info given what exactly happened.

[Mike 03]

19. Yes, we're just speculating at this point on very little info.

Another odd thing is that instead of calling 911, Rollins called his father for help.

As more information comes out, we'll learn more.

[Dan]

35. That's the most interesting fact of all

Why call the dad - when you’ve survived a violent attack with at least two people dead. Why call your father to potentially expose him...why not 911, unless....

Drug deal gone bad?

[Ligyron]

38. Now that I did not think of...

But you're right that could be a distinct possibility, although we have no evidence these people are anything but decent citizens considering the positive comments made about them by the Sheriff.

What is truly weird is the incredible amount of crime that apparently occurs in that county based on the number of YouTube videos where he's giving one presser after another describing these events. His Sheriff Department does seem amazingly competent based on the 100% of solved homicides in his jurisdiction.

I'm down in Palm Beach County myself where we give sweetheart deals to pedophiles and drug addled talk radio hosts.

[Dan]

39. Well I have to admit that I don't know anything about the area,

Except what has been listed here.

But I remember, years ago when we in this nation used to attack Mexico about their lack of control of the drug problems and crime, thinking - :

Once you have the drugs, the money involved - that so much drug money not only could purchase the police, but the judicial system.

Not saying that is what occurred.

[Blue_true]

23. This is a case where the three having handguns would have been good.

I am not an advocate for the level of gun use that our country has, but in some cases, having a hand gun comes in handy.

[Tipperary]

10. I have lived in Florida.

Lakes at night are never a good idea. We used to go out to see gators when I was young. Never disappointed, but always scary.

[ToxMarz]

12. I don't think alligators did this

[Tipperary]

16. Obviously not.

Just an observation.

[Dreampuff]

13. Such a tragedy

WFLA will be one of the local news sources if anyone wants to keep up on this. They were interviewing the family of one of the victims yesterday. I hope that they are arrested soon because I don't live far from that area.

I'm not sure if you mean the victims are not white or if you meant the killers are not white. The victims are white. From the demographics of the area, I will venture to guess the killers are white, too. I hope they are or that will open a whole other can of worms.

[Blue_true]

24. It will be interesting to see what authorities find out concerning what brought the attack on.

Please update us when you find out more.


I don’t fish, but I would NEVER nightfish, I am a mosquito magnet and Florida mosquitos are viscous at night.

[raccoon]

14. Good ideas about the case some of you have.

Man, I hope somebody writes a book about it.

[Tipperary]

20. Probably be simple.

Drugs or sex. Oldest stories ever.

[mysteryowl]

21. Certainly not a random killing,

Last edited Sun Jul 19, 2020, 07:32 PM - Edit history (1)

it couldn't be. The remote location and the extreme messy killing of beatings and multiple gun shots.
Sounds planned to me. There is a picture in local news of one of them holding up a large, dead, wild boar.

[oldsoftie]

22. I cant help it; you mean wild boar. Trump is a wild BORE! I just had to do it!

My joke skills are weak i know............


But I agree with your opinion too. Just very odd case

[Tipperary]

26. Maybe you mean boor?

I think you do. And he is.

Boar, bore, boor. All different words. Homonyms are so difficult for so many.

[oldsoftie]

28. SHIT!!!!

Yep

[mysteryowl]

31. Ha!

Yes, it was a typo!

[oldsoftie]

32. And apparently I used the wrong one too!

[mysteryowl]

34. Oh that is hilarious! I did not even notice!

[Blue_true]

25. It will be interesting to find out what brought this on.

Rural killings are not frequent, but when one read about them, they always seem to be brutal and highly personal.

[Tipperary]

27. Boar.

Sheesh.

[mysteryowl]

33. It will be okay, people do have typos you know.

[Hortensis]

29. Poor guys and their families. Dreadful tragedy.

Even though speculation's of course warranted, I'm not rushing to rule out these friends being in the wrong place and the wrong people coming along or following them.

I've driven my husband to a bunch of very isolated spots to fish and not been happy to be in a place with no phone service (in this century) and only the road we came in on to escape on. We've also run into questionable characters a number of times over the years and felt relieved that nothing bad happened.

[uponit7771]

30. +1

[ProfessorGAC]

36. Around Here...

...there's a lot of fishing areas.
River, 3 state parks, 2 nuke plant cooling lakes, old strip mines kept stocked, etc.
There was an area here called "The Ropes". Ropes tied to trees so people could swing on them and launch into the water. Heavy fishing pond.
I didn't live this far south then, but everybody knew the place. Lots of the stoners went there to hang.
Anyway in the early 80s bikers found out about the place and started hanging there.
Like you said, one way in, one way out.
There were several incidents there of people coming to swim or fish and getting the stuffing beat out of them because it was now " turf".
County cops started patrolling it & bikers found a new place to hang.
It was pretty dangerous for a few years.
I always wondered if those guys didn't have a pot crop they were defending.

[Hortensis]

37. :) May be. We're in FL and there are uncounted hidden

lakes with seemingly no one around. Often easier to get lost on sandy tracks in the woods than to find them. Telling my husband about this, he said he'd never go to them at night, but I don't see that daytime, when even the people living on the nearest developed roads are at work, should be that different. Except for alligators. I think I heard a bull shuffling by the patio last night. It'd be the first since poachers took all the big ones from the marsh.

In GA, we live in a nicely domesticated rural area a half hour from the "Deliverance" area. It's not quite only fiction in a novel. Years ago a RE agent told me she would not be showing me properties in an area of the southern reaches of the Appalachian mountains directly of Atlanta (seemingly beautifully positioned) because she refused to go "in" there. I did once to check a property with a gorgeous view south, and it looked ordinary for low income, houses and trailers here and there in the woods, but no other cars and absolutely no place for miles to buy so much as a loaf of bread. In a nearby but different area someone shot over and around me when I was checking out an undeveloped area overlooking a river. Offended me so much I wished I wanted to buy it to spite our reluctant prospective neighbor, but the climb down to the river was too steep. And there was the possibility that he really was crazy.