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Man accused of shooting 9-year-old during gunfight
By LEANORA MINAI, Times Staff Writer
ST. PETERSBURG -- A St. Petersburg man wounded in a Childs Park gunfight has been charged with the attempted murder of 9-year-old Corey Davis. Police said Johntavius A. Johnson, 18, was looking to settle a score on Wednesday when he drove to 3928 8th Ave. S and fired several rounds at a man standing outside, police said. Detectives say Corey was not Johnson's target but got caught in the cross-fire. A bullet struck Corey's back and exited his abdomen. He is recovering at All Children's Hospital. "He should be charged because he messed up my grandson," said Corey's grandmother, Martha Davis, 63. Johnson, whose last known address was 645 52nd Ave. S, was first arrested when he was 10 years old on a simple battery charge, police said. Since then, Johnson has been arrested at least eight other times on charges ranging from auto burglary to cocaine possession. In a recent incident with police, Johnson was accused of throwing 129 pieces of crack into the street and running away when officers tried to stop him, police records show. Homicide Sgt. Mike Puetz said the gun used in the shooting on Wednesday has not been recovered. He declined to release the name of Johnson's target but said the man identified Johnson as the man who fired the shots. Puetz said investigators have no indication that the man shot at Johnson, even though Johnson was shot in the leg during the incident. Johnson will not tell police how he was shot, but police think that he might have accidentally shot himself. Puetz said the shooting does not appear to be drug-related. "It just looks like this was a case of somebody trying to exact some revenge, and in the process, this kid was in the wrong place at the wrong time," Puetz said.
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