PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP HAS NOT COMMENTED ON WHAT HAPPENED. JESSE. ALL RIGHT, STU, THANK YOU. NOW TO ORANGE COUNTY, WHERE A MAN IS ACCUSED OF KILLING HIS WIFE WITH DEMENTIA AFTER A HEATED ARGUMENT THIS WEEKEND. TONIGHT WE SPOKE WITH HIS ATTORNEY AND WESH TWO’S GAIL PASCHALL-BROWN IS LIVE IN OUR NEWSROOM WITH WHAT HE HAD TO SAY ABOUT THAT ELDERLY MAN, WHO IS ALSO A FORMER ORLANDO POLICE OFFICER. GAIL. THAT’S RIGHT, MICHELLE WILLIAM SIMMONS WAS A 25 YEAR VETERAN OF THE ORLANDO POLICE DEPARTMENT, AND HIS ATTORNEY SAYS HE’S NEVER FIRED HIS SERVICE WEAPON. NOW, HIS WIFE SUFFERED WITH DEMENTIA. AND TONIGHT I ASKED THE ATTORNEY HOW HE PLANS TO DEFEND HIS CLIENT. HE’S GOD SAD. AND HE KNOWS THAT HE DESTROYED HER. HER LIFE. HE ALSO KNOWS THAT HE DESTROYED HIS, WHATEVER IT TURNS OUT TO BE. CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY MARK O’MARA OF ORLANDO IS REPRESENTING 80 YEAR OLD WILLIAM SIMMONS. SIMMONS IS ACCUSED OF SHOOTING AND KILLING HIS 83 YEAR OLD WIFE, NANCY, DURING AN ARGUMENT OVER A CRUISE IN THEIR ORLANDO HOME SATURDAY. SIMMONS CALLED 911, TOLD THE DISPATCHER HIS WIFE WAS DOWN. AND I’M JUST SITTING HERE. HE’S A 25 YEAR VETERAN OF ORLANDO POLICE DEPARTMENT. HE RETIRED LIKE 15, 20 YEARS AGO, SO HE’S BEEN IN RETIREMENT, DID SOME SECURITY JOBS, BUT HE WAS MARRIED TO HER. NANCY FOR 43 YEARS. SHE HAD SUFFERED FROM DEMENTIA AND, YOU KNOW, GOT VIOLENT SCRATCHING AND BITING. WE SAW MARKS ON HIS ARMS. ONE TIME. THE STORY IS THAT SHE GRABBED THE WHEEL WHEN THEY WERE DRIVING AND PUT HIM INTO A CURB. WILLIAMS TOLD INVESTIGATORS HE HAD DEALT WITH HER DEMENTIA FOR TOO LONG, WOULD RATHER LIVE IN PRISON THAN LIVE WITH HER, AND LOVED THE OLD NANCY. HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH THE REALITY THAT THE PERSON YOU LOVE IS NO LONGER WITH YOU, EVEN THOUGH HER BODY IS? BECAUSE OBVIOUSLY YOUR FIREARM IS USED IN THIS CASE? AND HE SAID, YOU KNOW, I’VE NEVER DISCHARGED MY FIREARM IN THE LINE OF DUTY 25 YEARS. HE ALSO SAID HE NEVER GOT INTO A FIGHT, A FISTFIGHT WITH ANYBODY IN 25 YEARS. SO HOW DO YOU DEFEND THIS CLIENT? WE’RE NOT GOING TO SAY HE DIDN’T DO IT. HE DID IT. IT SEEMS FROM ALL THE FORENSICS. BUT WHAT WE SAY IS WHY? AND I THINK HE JUST SNAPPED. MARK O’MARA SAYS THEY WILL GET HIM EVALUATED BY PSYCHIATRISTS AND LOOK INTO HER MEDICAL RECORDS. THE WORST IS HE’LL JUST DIE IN PRISON. THE WHAT I HOPE FOR IS SOME JUDGE, SOME PROSECUTOR, TO UNDERSTAND THAT THIS WAS NOT A CRIMINALLY INTENDED ACT. WE HAVE TO HAVE SOME MERCY, SOME UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT HAPPENS IN THE THROES OF DESPAIR THAT HAPPENS WITH DEMENTIA. THE WAY IT GOT WITH NANCY. WILLIAM SIMMONS REMAINS IN THE ORANGE COUNTY JAIL. HE FACES A CHA
‘Snapped’: Former Orlando police officer accused of shooting wife with dementia
Updated: 10:09 PM EST Feb 25, 2026
In Orange County, William Simmons, a former Orlando police officer, is accused of shooting and killing his 83-year-old wife, Nancy, during an argument over a cruise at their Orlando home on Saturday.Simmons, who is 80 years old, called 911 and informed the dispatcher that his wife was down and he was just sitting there.Criminal Defense Attorney Mark O’Mara of Orlando is representing Simmons. “He’s God sad and he knows that he destroyed her, her life and he also knows he destroyed his, whatever it turns out to be,” O’Mara said about his client.Simmons, a 25-year veteran of the Orlando Police Department, retired 15 to 20 years ago and had taken on some security jobs.He was married to Nancy for 43 years, and she had suffered from dementia. O’Mara explained, “And you know, go violent, scratching, biting. We saw marks on his arm. One time, the story is she grabbed the wheel while they were driving and put him into a curb.”Williams told investigators he had “dealt with her dementia for too long, would rather live in prison than live with her, and loved the old Nancy.” O’Mara added, “How do you deal with the reality of the person you do love is no longer with you, even though her body is?”O’Mara noted that a firearm was used in the case, and Simmons said, “I never discharged my firearm in the line of duty, 25 years. He also said he never got into a fight, a fist fight with anybody in 25 years.”O’Mara discussed the defense strategy, stating, “We’re not going to say he didn’t do it, he did it, it seems from all the forensics, but what we say is why? I think he just snapped. I think it was just the built-up over time where you try to deal with the person who you loved and certainly loved who she was before the disease took over her personality, her mind.”O’Mara said they will have Simmons evaluated by psychiatrists and look into Nancy’s medical records. “The worst he just die in prison, what I hope for some judge, some prosecutor to understand this was not a criminally intended act. We have to have some mercy, some understanding of what happens in the throes of despair that happens with dementia, that way it got with Nancy.”William Simmons is currently in the Orange County Jail, facing a first-degree murder charge. Mark O’Mara visited him in jail on Wednesday night.
In Orange County, William Simmons, a former Orlando police officer, is accused of shooting and killing his 83-year-old wife, Nancy, during an argument over a cruise at their Orlando home on Saturday.
Simmons, who is 80 years old, called 911 and informed the dispatcher that his wife was down and he was just sitting there.
Criminal Defense Attorney Mark O’Mara of Orlando is representing Simmons. “He’s God sad and he knows that he destroyed her, her life and he also knows he destroyed his, whatever it turns out to be,” O’Mara said about his client.
Simmons, a 25-year veteran of the Orlando Police Department, retired 15 to 20 years ago and had taken on some security jobs.
He was married to Nancy for 43 years, and she had suffered from dementia. O’Mara explained, “And you know, go violent, scratching, biting. We saw marks on his arm. One time, the story is she grabbed the wheel while they were driving and put him into a curb.”
Williams told investigators he had “dealt with her dementia for too long, would rather live in prison than live with her, and loved the old Nancy.” O’Mara added, “How do you deal with the reality of the person you do love is no longer with you, even though her body is?”
O’Mara noted that a firearm was used in the case, and Simmons said, “I never discharged my firearm in the line of duty, 25 years. He also said he never got into a fight, a fist fight with anybody in 25 years.”
O’Mara discussed the defense strategy, stating, “We’re not going to say he didn’t do it, he did it, it seems from all the forensics, but what we say is why? I think he just snapped. I think it was just the built-up over time where you try to deal with the person who you loved and certainly loved who she was before the disease took over her personality, her mind.”
O’Mara said they will have Simmons evaluated by psychiatrists and look into Nancy’s medical records. “The worst he just die in prison, what I hope for some judge, some prosecutor to understand this was not a criminally intended act. We have to have some mercy, some understanding of what happens in the throes of despair that happens with dementia, that way it got with Nancy.”
William Simmons is currently in the Orange County Jail, facing a first-degree murder charge. Mark O’Mara visited him in jail on Wednesday night.