Florida's home to many historical sites
you may not know though it includes the
home of some infamous criminals yes one
that has served as a hideout for a
notorious criminal family back in the
1930s we're talking about Kate Ma Barker
and her sons MA and her son Fred fled to
Florida after a series of vicious crimes
in several states News six at ninth
Karolina Cardona is in Marion County
where she's given us an inside look at
the historic house it took several hours
and close to 800 rounds were fired on
January 16th and 1935 to capture Ma
Barker and her son her body was found
right here next to the closet and just a
few feet away the body of her son Fred
that's the original and so you were able
to see the blood blood stains still
noticeable from the night Kate Ma Barker
and her son Fred refused to surrender to
authorities fred would run around to all
the rooms he would shoot out the windows
the FBI at the time the Department of
Justice where they shot approximately
500 shots at this house and that
Barker's shooting out was 250 shots
Joe Vogue volunteer for Marion County's
Parks and Recreation gave us a tour of
the infamous house where Ma Barker and
her son Fred hid from federal agents
they were a an active part of the
community they seemed to just melt right
in little did the community know the
Blackburn's were Fred Parker and his
mother Kate Ma Barker a notorious family
responsible for several crimes they move
constantly but they were in Miami when
they heard that this place might become
available
located near Ocala mine Fred rented this
house after the Barker Karpis gang split
up in the summer of 1934 Fred Barker and
Alvin Karpis
along with other criminals had murdered
robbed banks trains and orchestrated two
major kidnappings of rich businessmen in
the 1930s they've killed 14 law
enforcement officers and 16 civilians
Joe tells us it was believed a mob
barker didn't commit any crimes but she
served as a cover-up
she was reaping the benefits and they
needed her
because they could move easily where it
looks like ma and her son the law isn't
apt to catch him the two-story house was
donated to the county by the owner today
it's a museum with many of its original
furnishings it's really nice and really
neat it's got a lot of history and you
can see the pictures and the bullet
holes several bullet holes can be seen
throughout the house door was actually
closed and so that the bullets would
come there were 35 yards out there they
were shooting up in an angle and so the
the rips would come right through here
there's a number of holes a house that
seems to have stopped in time sparking
curiosity because of that deadly
shootout in 1935 the Ma Barker House
Museum is open to the public with
scheduled limited tours right now Marion
County Parks and Recreation hopes to
have significant restorations done
within the next year in Marion County
I'm Catalina Cardona news 6 at 9 so
fascinating yes it is I love kind of
walking into some of these homes that we
have here in Central Florida and they
have such history and stories and I
asked Carolina how did they will have
the find MA and all that the Barkers
were found after the FBI agents arrested
one of the gang members in Chicago and
then in his apartment they found a map
of Florida Woodlake we're circled around
it that eventually led them to a friend
and ma Barker and two buildings will be
constructed with exterior finishes that
will match that time period there and
they'll be adding restrooms and a small
gift shop and I don't know about you
guys but it gives me a little bit of
like an eerie feeling there's some
rumors that her ghost is there yeah oh
that makes me want to go that's like I'm
is so limited tours are available and
they are $10 per person so