Brian(upstateNY)
New member
This is only a couple miles from me 
,wish I were there too see it go down 
[attachment 189147 MaandFredBarker.jpg]
OCKLAWAHA - It was Jan. 16, 1935 when "Ma" Barker and her son Fred were gunned down here in a home on Lake Weir, ending the longest FBI shootout ever and launching a legend in the community that has survived for generations.
Arizona Donnie "Kate" Barker was believed to be the leader of the 25-member Karpis-Barker gang responsible for three kidnappings, 10 murders and thefts of more than $1 million during a three-year rampage, primarily in the Midwest, that began in 1932.
A Florida map with Lake Weir circled on it was found during a Chicago raid of gang members, leading federal agents to Ocklawaha in January 1935.
When agents with the Department of Justice, now called the Federal Bureau of Investigation, arrived at the Ocklawaha rental home that morning, 63-year-old Ma opened the front door.
Seconds later, 32-year-old Fred walked onto the porch and unloaded a volley of machine gun bullets on the government agents. For the next four or five hours, the two sides exchanged gunfire almost continuously.
Finally, at noon, about an hour after the shooting from inside the home stopped, agents sent Willie Woodberry - an African American who had been hired by the Barkers to cook - into the home.
As Woodberry walked onto the porch, he yelled, "It's me Ma, don't shoot." Woodberry found Ma and Fred dead. In 1985, Woodberry, then 78, recalled of Ma Barker, "She was the boss."
The house was riddled with nearly 3,500 bullets druing the shootout. Afterwards, federal agents found machine guns, rifles, pistols and $14,293 in cash. The Barkers' bodies were taken to Pyles Funeral Home in Ocala by undertaker Harold Martin and his assistant, F.L. McGehee, the father of former Ocala police chief Lee McGehee.
,wish I were there too see it go down [attachment 189147 MaandFredBarker.jpg]
OCKLAWAHA - It was Jan. 16, 1935 when "Ma" Barker and her son Fred were gunned down here in a home on Lake Weir, ending the longest FBI shootout ever and launching a legend in the community that has survived for generations.
Arizona Donnie "Kate" Barker was believed to be the leader of the 25-member Karpis-Barker gang responsible for three kidnappings, 10 murders and thefts of more than $1 million during a three-year rampage, primarily in the Midwest, that began in 1932.
A Florida map with Lake Weir circled on it was found during a Chicago raid of gang members, leading federal agents to Ocklawaha in January 1935.
When agents with the Department of Justice, now called the Federal Bureau of Investigation, arrived at the Ocklawaha rental home that morning, 63-year-old Ma opened the front door.
Seconds later, 32-year-old Fred walked onto the porch and unloaded a volley of machine gun bullets on the government agents. For the next four or five hours, the two sides exchanged gunfire almost continuously.
Finally, at noon, about an hour after the shooting from inside the home stopped, agents sent Willie Woodberry - an African American who had been hired by the Barkers to cook - into the home.
As Woodberry walked onto the porch, he yelled, "It's me Ma, don't shoot." Woodberry found Ma and Fred dead. In 1985, Woodberry, then 78, recalled of Ma Barker, "She was the boss."
The house was riddled with nearly 3,500 bullets druing the shootout. Afterwards, federal agents found machine guns, rifles, pistols and $14,293 in cash. The Barkers' bodies were taken to Pyles Funeral Home in Ocala by undertaker Harold Martin and his assistant, F.L. McGehee, the father of former Ocala police chief Lee McGehee.