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http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2009/02/16/0216invader.html
Also a poll and audio file
Popular music teacher kills armed intruder in Wellington home
By MICHAEL LaFORGIA, ELIOT KLEINBERG and LAURA GREEN
Palm Beach Post Staff Writers
Monday, February 16, 2009
WELLINGTON — A popular middle school band teacher shot and killed a masked gunman who broke into his house and forced him into a gunfight early Monday, sheriff's officials said.
Heath Miller, 34, leveled a .38-caliber pistol and shot Robert Rashard Tomlin, 22, at about 2 a.m. in a duplex Miller rents at 1382 White Pine Drive in Wellington, according Neither Miller, a music teacher at H.L. Watkins Middle School in Palm Beach Gardens, nor his wife, Mirelle, was hurt in the attack.
"He's better now, but he had to have sedatives to sleep this morning," said Heath Miller's mother, Harma, who took in the shaken couple at her Wellington home Monday morning. "They're fine. They're actually better now, and concerned friends have been calling all morning."
Tomlin lived a few doors down from Miller and had roots in Pahokee, according to sheriff's officials and family members.
Detectives said they had yet to pinpoint why Tomlin, who was dressed in black and wielded a .40-caliber handgun, targeted Miller's duplex.
"I couldn't even take a guess," said Detective Sgt. David Conklin, whose homicide squad was handling the case.
Just before 2 a.m., Tomlin slipped into Miller's duplex, possibly through a rear sliding glass door, and Miller's dogs began barking. Miller and his wife, who recently bought a home near West Palm Beach and planned to move in two weeks, huddled in their bedroom as the intruder moved toward them in the dark.
Miller got out his pistol and prepared to fire. Through the bedroom doorway, he saw the silhouette of a gunman moving toward him, said Sgt. Pete Palenzuela, sheriff's office spokesman.
A gunfight ensued. It wasn't immediately clear who fired the first shot, but after a brief exchange of gunfire, the masked intruder stumbled toward the glass door, where he collapsed and died, Palenzuela said.
Harma Miller said her son didn't know his attacker.
"This could have been anyone in the world," she said, noting the apparent random nature of the crime.
Tomlin's friends and family described him as a quiet, fun-loving man who played football and basketball and lifted weights. He had a 2-year-old son, Rashard Jr. Darryl Woodson, 21, Tomlin's friend and roommate, said they often would sit up nights sipping beers and spinning freestyle rap lyrics.
"Last time I saw him was 2 a.m. this morning," Woodson said Monday afternoon. "We were all sitting down, drinking, and then all of a sudden he came and got his beer and said, 'I'll be right back.' And he left. And we ain't seen him since."
Tomlin was arrested six times since 2006 on charges including aggravated battery and violating probation, state records show.
"I don't believe he did it. He wasn't the type to get in trouble. He got along with everybody," said Tomlin's cousin, Kena Robinson, 30. "Whenever he wasn't at home watching my kids, he was at the labor pool."
Neighbors told investigators Miller was well-regarded in the neighborhood near Forest Hill Boulevard and Wellington Trace.
He comes from a prominent Belle Glade family. His father, Henry, owns Miller Funeral Home on Southwest Third Street. His mother served for more than a decade on the city commission and was mayor for at least one term in the early 2000s. She also taught at Palm Beach Community College's Belle Glade campus.
Heath Miller graduated in 1992 from Glades Central High School, where he served as student council vice president. He earned degrees in finance and music at Howard University in Washington. As a freshman, he led the drum section of the college's "Thunder" marching band.
Miller worked at his father's funeral home as a security guard and produced music by his sister, Harva, an aspiring recording artist who performed at SunFest in 2000.
Speaking about the embalming business in 1998, Miller said, "Being around this has given me a respect for life and made me want to live every day like it's my last."
It was as a teacher that he excelled, his students' parents said.
Miller bragged that he ran his band with military precision, saying he brought students in line by ordering them to do push-ups.
"The parents call me: 'So-and-so needs push-ups,' " Miller once said.
"He reminds you of how the teachers were back in the days," said Latracia Hayes, whose son Jacoby was in the band for part of this school year. "He understands the kids."
Catharine Darant said she sat down with teachers, including Miller, after her 14-year-old son Derick's grades started slipping. She said the band teacher applied just the right amount of pressure, warning Derick that if his grades continued to fall, he would have to quit playing.
"That's one of the reasons my son is keeping his grades up, so he can stay in the band," Darant said, calling Miller "very influential."
Miller, a teacher at Watkins since 2005, was selected as the school's most popular teacher in 2007, according to the yearbook. Band parents praised his leadership, especially of the school's award-winning, 40-plus-member drum line called the Percussion Academy.
As Miller rested at his mother's home Monday morning, investigators studied the crime scene.
The owner of the duplex, Angelo Palumbo, drove up just before 10:30 a.m. and walked in to survey the damage. He said the rear sliding glass door was shattered and he saw bullet holes scattered through the house.
Palumbo, who described Miller as a "very good tenant," said the neighborhood has been in decline.
"The neighborhood's changed drastically over the last 10 years," he said. "It used to be a really good neighborhood. Now it's going down the tubes."
Staff writer Sonja Isger and staff researcher Niels Heimeriks contributed to this story.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2009/02/16/0216invader.html
Also a poll and audio file
Popular music teacher kills armed intruder in Wellington home
By MICHAEL LaFORGIA, ELIOT KLEINBERG and LAURA GREEN
Palm Beach Post Staff Writers
Monday, February 16, 2009
WELLINGTON — A popular middle school band teacher shot and killed a masked gunman who broke into his house and forced him into a gunfight early Monday, sheriff's officials said.
Heath Miller, 34, leveled a .38-caliber pistol and shot Robert Rashard Tomlin, 22, at about 2 a.m. in a duplex Miller rents at 1382 White Pine Drive in Wellington, according Neither Miller, a music teacher at H.L. Watkins Middle School in Palm Beach Gardens, nor his wife, Mirelle, was hurt in the attack.
"He's better now, but he had to have sedatives to sleep this morning," said Heath Miller's mother, Harma, who took in the shaken couple at her Wellington home Monday morning. "They're fine. They're actually better now, and concerned friends have been calling all morning."
Tomlin lived a few doors down from Miller and had roots in Pahokee, according to sheriff's officials and family members.
Detectives said they had yet to pinpoint why Tomlin, who was dressed in black and wielded a .40-caliber handgun, targeted Miller's duplex.
"I couldn't even take a guess," said Detective Sgt. David Conklin, whose homicide squad was handling the case.
Just before 2 a.m., Tomlin slipped into Miller's duplex, possibly through a rear sliding glass door, and Miller's dogs began barking. Miller and his wife, who recently bought a home near West Palm Beach and planned to move in two weeks, huddled in their bedroom as the intruder moved toward them in the dark.
Miller got out his pistol and prepared to fire. Through the bedroom doorway, he saw the silhouette of a gunman moving toward him, said Sgt. Pete Palenzuela, sheriff's office spokesman.
A gunfight ensued. It wasn't immediately clear who fired the first shot, but after a brief exchange of gunfire, the masked intruder stumbled toward the glass door, where he collapsed and died, Palenzuela said.
Harma Miller said her son didn't know his attacker.
"This could have been anyone in the world," she said, noting the apparent random nature of the crime.
Tomlin's friends and family described him as a quiet, fun-loving man who played football and basketball and lifted weights. He had a 2-year-old son, Rashard Jr. Darryl Woodson, 21, Tomlin's friend and roommate, said they often would sit up nights sipping beers and spinning freestyle rap lyrics.
"Last time I saw him was 2 a.m. this morning," Woodson said Monday afternoon. "We were all sitting down, drinking, and then all of a sudden he came and got his beer and said, 'I'll be right back.' And he left. And we ain't seen him since."
Tomlin was arrested six times since 2006 on charges including aggravated battery and violating probation, state records show.
"I don't believe he did it. He wasn't the type to get in trouble. He got along with everybody," said Tomlin's cousin, Kena Robinson, 30. "Whenever he wasn't at home watching my kids, he was at the labor pool."
Neighbors told investigators Miller was well-regarded in the neighborhood near Forest Hill Boulevard and Wellington Trace.
He comes from a prominent Belle Glade family. His father, Henry, owns Miller Funeral Home on Southwest Third Street. His mother served for more than a decade on the city commission and was mayor for at least one term in the early 2000s. She also taught at Palm Beach Community College's Belle Glade campus.
Heath Miller graduated in 1992 from Glades Central High School, where he served as student council vice president. He earned degrees in finance and music at Howard University in Washington. As a freshman, he led the drum section of the college's "Thunder" marching band.
Miller worked at his father's funeral home as a security guard and produced music by his sister, Harva, an aspiring recording artist who performed at SunFest in 2000.
Speaking about the embalming business in 1998, Miller said, "Being around this has given me a respect for life and made me want to live every day like it's my last."
It was as a teacher that he excelled, his students' parents said.
Miller bragged that he ran his band with military precision, saying he brought students in line by ordering them to do push-ups.
"The parents call me: 'So-and-so needs push-ups,' " Miller once said.
"He reminds you of how the teachers were back in the days," said Latracia Hayes, whose son Jacoby was in the band for part of this school year. "He understands the kids."
Catharine Darant said she sat down with teachers, including Miller, after her 14-year-old son Derick's grades started slipping. She said the band teacher applied just the right amount of pressure, warning Derick that if his grades continued to fall, he would have to quit playing.
"That's one of the reasons my son is keeping his grades up, so he can stay in the band," Darant said, calling Miller "very influential."
Miller, a teacher at Watkins since 2005, was selected as the school's most popular teacher in 2007, according to the yearbook. Band parents praised his leadership, especially of the school's award-winning, 40-plus-member drum line called the Percussion Academy.
As Miller rested at his mother's home Monday morning, investigators studied the crime scene.
The owner of the duplex, Angelo Palumbo, drove up just before 10:30 a.m. and walked in to survey the damage. He said the rear sliding glass door was shattered and he saw bullet holes scattered through the house.
Palumbo, who described Miller as a "very good tenant," said the neighborhood has been in decline.
"The neighborhood's changed drastically over the last 10 years," he said. "It used to be a really good neighborhood. Now it's going down the tubes."
Staff writer Sonja Isger and staff researcher Niels Heimeriks contributed to this story.