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Single punch alters future
By TAMARA LUSH, Times Staff Writer
TAMPA -- In their slouchy jeans and baggy shirts, Sickles High students drove their Hondas and SUVs into the parking lot of the Steak n Shake on Sheldon Road Sunday night. They should have been talking about graduation this coming Friday, about parties, about the summer and plans far beyond. Instead, they talked about Chris Fannan, and whether he would live or die. Fannan, an 18-year-old Sickles senior about to graduate, was punched in the head as he sat on the hood of a car in the restaurant's parking lot early Sunday. He was hit so hard, authorities said, that he stopped breathing. "Chris didn't do anything," said Matt Silva, 16. "Nobody wanted to start anything." Fannan's Saturday evening was typical, said his friends. They all went to a couple of parties, and early Sunday they all met in the Steak n Shake parking lot to talk and eat. The restaurant is the only place open 24 hours in that part of Citrus Park. About 3:45 a.m., a green Honda Accord drove by slowly. Some teens said there were two men in the car; authorities said there were four. Either way, the group of teens in the parking lot exchanged some tense words with the men in the Honda. Fannan did not yell anything, his friends said. The Honda drove off and returned about 10 minutes later. Everyone agrees that there were four men in the Honda at that time. The men climbed out of the car. Fannan, who was sitting on a friend's car eating sunflower seeds, kept quiet, his friends said. According to Hillsborough sheriff's deputies, one of the men in the Honda punched Fannan in the temple. His friends said he was struck only once. Fannan fell to the ground, unconscious. The men in the Honda chased Fannan's friends into the restaurant, and drove off. Someone inside the restaurant dialed 911, while others tried to revive Fannan. Fannan is in "extremely critical" condition at St. Joseph's Hospital in Tampa, sheriff's spokesman Lt. Rod Reder said. Friends who went to the hospital Sunday said he was not responsive. By all accounts, Fannan had a lot to look forward to. His little sister, who worshiped him, is turning 8 today. Also today, Fannan was going to celebrate the end of the school year with the Senior Send-off at Sickles High, where seniors barbecue, listen to music and hang out one last time at the school. Fannan, who helped raise money for the senior class activities this year, was also a biology teacher's assistant, which meant that he helped prepare the classroom lab for other students. Fannan, who lives in the Westchase subdivision, has a wide circle of friends, especially girls. He loves hip-hop music and motorcycles, and had hoped to buy one this summer. "He was a real easygoing person to get along with," said Nadeen Melendez, 18. He had signed up to join the Army this summer with his friend, Evan Brown. "He had no enemies," Brown said. "He was a good person." Friends said the people in the car were not Sickles students. Fannan's friends told detectives they think one of the men was a former student. No arrests were nade Sunday.
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