It Was Like A Scene From A Movie

It Was Like A Scene From A Movie

In late July 1958, beach goers and visitors witnessed a police chase, a shoot out, a hostage situation, and two Texan desperadoes apprehended. What seemed like a scene right out of a Hollywood blockbuster was all to real for those involved.

Whitsel and Franks

George W. Whitsel, 31, and Alton C. Franks, 25, escaped from Huntsville State Prison, stole a car, and fled to Fort Myers Beach where they kept a low profile hiding out in a motel. Their mistake was speeding through the quiet beach community. As they sped past Deputy Inlo Swope, he ordered them to halt, to which they ignored, but did not know the road they were on circled back and the second time they past Swope, he gave chase.

As Swope gave pursue to the 1958 Oldsmobile with Louisiana plates, the gunman opened fire on him. Swope gave chase going over the wooden bridge onto San Carlos Blvd., returning fire on the armed escapees.

Whitsel, a habitual criminal, was serving a life sentence; Franks was nabbed during a burglary and was serving a 16 year sentence, when the duo escaped.

The escapees and Swope kept exchanging fire as they sped along Beach Road onto McGregor Blvd. The chase turned onto Punta Rassa Road after the criminals hit the guy wire on a pole, spinning their vehicle around. At Cove Road, they stopped and Swope pulled up alongside them. Whitsel, now armed with a .12 gauge shotgun shot off a few rounds, luckily for the deputy, his rolled up window deflected the bullets.

Swope climbed out of his vehicle, emptied his service revolver and another pistol without hitting either fugitive. The two prisoners ran down Thornton Road into a residential area where they brazenly broke into the McCormick home.

Hostages

Bloodhounds led the police to the McCormick residence. David McCormick, and his wife, Jo Ann, who was six months pregnant, were busy painting the interior of their new house when the convicts broke in. The expecting couple were tied up and held at gun point, as police blocked off Thornton Blvd.

Authorities, including all city, state, and county law enforcement officers, FBI, and the fire department quickly surrounded the property. Deputy Nick Kelley approached the house and McCormick came to the door stating everything is all right. Later, Kelley reported “McCormick was white as a sheet and I knew something was wrong.”

Sheriff Flanders Thompson, using a bullhorn commanded “Now hear this! Come out of the house with your hands up! No harm will come to you. You are surrounded.” FBI agent George Gatins suggested using tear gas, but this plan was scrapped for fear that the gas shells might catch the house on fire.

At 2 O’clock as the standoff continued, the paper reported “minutes passed tensely.” Agent Gatins warned them that they had five minutes to come out.

The escapees and their hostages made their way out, slowly to the driveway and got in the McCormicks blue and white Ford. As the car backed out, Jo Ann was heard screaming, “Please, God, don’t shoot! They’ll kill us if you do!”

One of the convicts hollered, “Let us through or we’ll kill them!”

Then an exchange of rapid gun fire ensued. It was reported that “Chief Deputy J. Howard Greer shot the left front tire flat. Answering fire came from Franks, who fired four times with a .22 revolver. Quick as a wink, Dickens opened up on the car with a submachine gun, blasting four neat holes in the windshield. Other officers fired also. Bullets whined past the car and nicked cars on the opposite roadblock but no one was hit except Whitsel. His wound was a superficial arm wound.”

When the gunfire came to a halt, the convicts were ordered to throw out their weapons consisting of a .22 revolver, .32 automatic, and a shotgun. With their hands in the air, they crawled out of the car and layed on the ground where they were frisked and handcuffed.

Aftermath

Jo Ann came out of the car “shaken and white with nervous relief, sobbed, ‘I’m all right. I’m all right.’” David on the other hand had a different mindset, “Shoot both the — of — right now,” he told the authorities.

As one of the escaped prisoners was being placed in the back of the patrol car, he said to David, “tell your wife we’re sorry.”

The McCormicks were taken to the hospital as a precautionary measure and given a sedative to relive their nervous condition. Deputy Swope also had small lacerations from gunshot pellets and flying glass from his windshield.

The police traced the tags on the Oldsmobile the criminals stole to a John T. White of Shreveport, Louisiana. It turned out that the two prisoners had not only stolen the Olds, but the license plate was also stolen, as White did not own an Olds, he owned a Nash to which the plate was registered.

A few days following the shootout, the car driven by Swope was put on display for the public to view. “One bullet remained in the windshield trim and scores of holes are to be seen in the sides of the car and the windows.”