His mother says the Dade City man was hoping to start life fresh in another state. When she last saw him, they were joking with each other.
By SAUNDRA AMRHEIN and MOLLY MOORHEAD
Published October 15, 2003
DADE CITY - Tyrone Davis told his mother he wanted a better life. An ex-convict, he was tired of being turned down for jobs.
"Go to Virginia," he told her recently, Lisa Johnson remembered, as mother and son daydreamed on her screened-in porch off a pockmarked road in Tommytown. "I'll come later and take care of you."
But before he could start a new life, his old one claimed him.
Davis, 24, was shot dead shortly after midnight Tuesday in what the Sheriff's Office has described as a home invasion.
Davis charged into a dark blue concrete block house at 15150 Jeanie Lane with another man, in what appears to have been a robbery thwarted by a fight with the residents, according to sheriff's Sgt. John Corbin.
During the struggle, one of the residents, 26-year-old Michael Thomas, was shot in the abdomen but was recovering at Pasco Regional Medical center, Corbin said. Hospital officials would not confirm the information.
"It was a shock to me," said Johnson, who learned of her son's death from a relative about 2 a.m. Tuesday. "I thought that was over, that lifestyle."
The second man fled and remained at large Tuesday, Corbin said. Johnson said the man, known as "T," came by her home Tuesday but left without giving details about what happened.
Officials were still trying to determine who shot whom, Corbin said.
Paul Thomas, Michael's brother, said Tuesday that he was the only one awake in the house shortly after midnight. His instincts told him something was up, said Thomas, 25. As he walked through the darkened house, he confronted the intruders.
"I walked down the hallway, walked back up and I got in a tussle," he said. The noise woke up everyone else.
Two of Paul's children lay asleep in one of the rooms: 2-year-old Daunte and 2-month-old La'Dainian. With them was Thelma Penix, the mother of La'Dainian. Penix is the daughter of Dade City Commissioner Eunice Penix.
One of the men, wearing a mask and carrying a gun, came into the room where Thelma Penix was sleeping on the couch, Daunte in the bed and the baby in the car seat, she said. A frightened Daunte jumped onto the couch with Thelma.
"I couldn't move. I didn't know who was there," she said. "I just kept saying, "Please don't hurt the kids."
The man demanded money from her but then left the room, she said.
The residents at the house on Jeanie Lane reported a home invasion on Sept. 1 after a gunman pushed his way inside, shot a round and then ran away with his companion who waited outside, according to sheriff's reports. At that time, some residents did not cooperate with the investigation, though Michael Thomas did give a statement, reports show. No one has been arrested in that case.
Paul Thomas said he had seen Davis around Tommytown but didn't know him well. He couldn't explain the reason behind the home invasion.
On Tuesday afternoon, Davis' mother struggled with the same question as she hugged visitors and well-wishers who streamed into her Valera Avenue home.
Her son had held three jobs in the past few years since getting out of prison. In 1998, Davis, then 19, pleaded no contest to two counts of attempted manslaughter and one count of strong-arm robbery in the September 1996 robbery at R&J Foods.
Davis agreed to a prison sentence of four years and eight months, with credit for two years served, in a deal that let him avoid more serious charges. Davis maintained he had nothing to do with the robbery but didn't want to risk a higher sentence with a new trial.
Another participant in that robbery was Michael Reed. Reed died this past spring after crashing into a tree while leading a sheriff's deputy on a chase. Reed's death was what reportedly enraged his friend, Alfreddie Steele Jr. and led to the June 1 shooting death of sheriff's Lt. Charles "Bo" Harrison.
Johnson said that her son stayed away from Reed after he got out of prison, held a few jobs and talked about getting his life in order.
Davis stayed with Johnson or at his sister's home. The past few days he came by Johnson's house, played with his brown pit bull, Baby, and talked with his mom at length on the porch.
"He said he was bored, there's nothing to do and because of the record he had, he couldn't find work," she said in a soft whisper.
On Monday night, she returned home from church about 9:30 or 10 p.m. Davis ate a bowl of Kellogg's Frosted Flakes and walked out the door, she said.
He strolled one way toward a friend's house. She walked in the other direction toward another friend's home. Mother and son joked as each disappeared on their own paths in the dark.
"That was the last time I saw him."
- Researcher Cathy Wos contributed to this report.
