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Slain teen carried deputy's stolen gun
By CHRIS TISCH, Times Staff Writer
PINELLAS PARK -- A handgun wielded by a 16-year-old who was shot to death by a sheriff's deputy last weekend had been stolen from the home of another sheriff's deputy earlier this month. Christopher Greene gripped a Colt .45 when he entered a Sunoco at 7091 Park Blvd. early Saturday morning to rob the store, sheriff's officials said. Deputies were summoned there by a tripped alarm. They found Greene inside raping the female clerk, officials said. Greene pointed the gun at the deputy, who shot the teen three times, killing him, officials said. Detectives traced the gun to Deputy Brian Bender, whose home had been broken into Dec. 11. Burglars entered Bender's home through a living room window, then broke into a locked gun cabinet and stole four guns, including the Colt .45. The stolen guns were Bender's personal weapons and did not include his service revolver, said Sgt. Greg Tita, a sheriff's spokesman. He said the deputy, a 13-year agency veteran, possessed those guns legally. Nothing else was stolen from the home. Four days after Greene's death, detectives arrested three people on charges of stealing the guns from Bender's home. All three are acquaintances of Greene's and live in Pinellas Park, Tita said. How the Colt .45 ended up in Greene's hands three days after the burglary is still unknown. "We don't know how that transpired," Tita said. "Nobody is 'fessing up to that." Investigators came to suspect the three in the break-in after a neighbor reported that one of them had tried to sell a handgun to her. One of the suspects admitted to the burglary and implicated the others, Tita said. Charged with the burglary at Bender's home are Joshua Bryant, 20, of 6171 82nd Ter. N.; Steven Murphy, 18, of 6089 81st Ave. N.; and Kain Gentner, 17, of 5960 66th Ter. N. Tita said none of them has been linked to the convenience store robbery, though detectives are investigating whether Greene had any accomplices. If he did, they could be charged with murder because Greene died during the commission of a felony, officials said. New details emerged Friday indicating that Greene was at a home within a few blocks of the Sunoco sometime last Friday night, possibly with the three burglary suspects. Detectives were trying to pinpoint that home Friday, Tita said. Investigators think Greene got a ride from his St. Petersburg apartment to that area, which is about 4 miles away. What they don't know is whether anyone knew of his intention to rob the store. Greene was not involved in the burglary at Bender's home. He was in the Pinellas County Jail that day, where he was being held in connection with burglaries in Kenneth City and Seminole. A rifle was stolen in one of those break-ins, prosecutor Bob Lewis said. Lewis said Greene had two suspected juvenile accomplices in those burglaries. They are not Bryant, Murphy or Gentner, he said. Bryant and Murphy remained at the Pinellas County Jail in lieu of $50,000 bail each. Gentner posted $50,000 bail and was released. Officials said Greene may have been part of a loose-knit group of youngsters who committed burglaries and other crimes in the area, though detectives have found no evidence that he was in a gang. Tita said detectives have recovered one other gun stolen from Bender's home, a .22-caliber.
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From the Times South Pinellas desks |
