12/18/03

Gun Store Burglary Solved, Prison Escapees Responsible

On November 24, 2003, Colonial Heights Police responded to an alarm at Dances Sporting Goods located at 570 Southpark Boulevard. Police discovered that entry had been forced into the rear of the business and a large number of weapons were missing.

On December 5, 2003, a store security officer in Baltimore County, Maryland was advised of two suspicious men in the parking lot outside of his store. The security officer observed the men through a surveillance camera and recorded one man as he entered a nearby bank. The same man was recorded running from the bank after robbing a teller.

The two men jumped into a mini-van and reached Interstate 95 before police located them. The van pulled to the shoulder of the interstate and both men fled on foot. After a brief chase, both men were caught by police.

The two men were identified as Shawn Gilreath and Floyd Williams, both prison escapees from the Clayton County Jail in Jonesboro, Georgia. The two men reportedly became friends while in jail and escaped together on November 18, 2003 after scaling a fence and fleeing in an awaiting vehicle.

At the time of Gilreath and William's arrest, two stolen firearms from Dance's Sporting Goods were discovered. A search warrant was later executed and ten additional weapons stolen from Colonial Heights were recovered.

The fugitives recently received national headlines because the two men are so opposite. Gilreath is a known white supremacist having appeared two times on the Montel Williams show as a racist and then as a reformed racist. Gilreath was in the Clayton County Jail on murder charges.

Floyd Williams is a black male and known gang member from Compton, California. Before his escape, Williams was in jail on two counts of murder and aggravated assault for the shooting death of a man and 16-month old child.

The arrest of Gilreath and Williams ends a crime spree which includes bank robberies, a home invasion and the burglary of Dance' Sporting Goods. The United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives will assume the investigation and criminal charges resulting from the Dance's Sporting Goods burglary.

Profiles on the two fugitives are available on the America's Most Wanted web site at www.amw.com. Both fugitives were profiled by America's Most Wanted; however, had been captured just hours before the show aired.