Extremist Tie Suspected in FBI Killings

The two robbery suspects who killed two FBI agents and wounded five others during a fierce gun battle were suspected in the ruthless shootings of at least four other people and may have had ties to extremist groups, authorities said Saturday.

The heavily armed suspects have been linked to at least a half-dozen bank and armored car robberies in Dade County in the last year, law enforcement officials said.

“The FBI and Metro-Dade police are continuing to probe the background of the men and are looking into armed bank robberies and armored car robberies,” FBI agent Paul Miller said. He said no other suspects were involved in Friday’s shooting.

‘They Were Ruthless’

“In the holdups, the group would be waiting for the guards and would just shoot them. They were ruthless. They were dangerous,” said Al Carballosa, a Metro-Dade police spokesman.

The suspects--William Matix, 34, and Michael L. Platt, 32--were killed during a confrontation with FBI agents behind a shopping center in the suburban, unincorporated community of Kendall.

The suspects’ behavior, their use of automatic .223-caliber weapons and fatigue clothes, similar to those worn by survivalists, suggest ties to extremist groups, the Miami Herald on Saturday quoted an unidentified FBI agent in Washington as saying.

“They did not shoot out of fear or excitement. It was cold, it was calculated,” the agent said.

“They really sound like survivalists. . . . They are very clean-cut, definitely Americans,” Metro-Dade Sgt. Tony Monheim said.

‘These Were Wild Guys’

“In all these robberies it’s all automatic weapons, shotguns, heavy, heavy armament,” suggesting a possible connection to such extremist groups, Monheim said. “These guys were wild guys.”

Neither Matix nor Platt had ever been arrested, police said. A woman who rented a house from Platt told the Herald that he was “an all-around nice person . . . an excellent landlord.”

Matix and Platt are believed to have killed two people and shot at least two more during the armored car and bank holdups, including one holdup Jan. 10, police said. In that robbery, a Brink’s messenger who stopped to make a pickup at a bank was shot in the stomach by a man wearing a ski mask.

Victim Shot Again

Witnesses said a second man got out of the assailants’ car and, standing over the bleeding courier, fired two more shots into him with an automatic rifle.

The men then lifted two duffel bags from the armored car and fled into a Kendall neighborhood just blocks from Friday’s shoot-out. The Brink’s messenger is recovering.

The car used was traced to Emilio Briel, 25, who was reported missing Oct. 10 after failing to return home from a trip to a quarry on the edge of the Everglades that is used for target practice, authorities said. Briel still has not been found and is presumed dead.