ST. PETERSBURG - Melvin B. Spaulding, 71, saw three men beating up his 63-year-old friend in the street and decided to do something about it.
Spaulding held a .22-caliber pistol and warned the men once, twice, three times to stop. Then he fired, striking one in the right biceps.
Later Sunday night, Pinellas sheriff's deputies arrested Spaulding on a charge of attempted murder. He was being held without bail Monday at the Pinellas County Jail.
"He was trying to do the right thing, but it ended up being the wrong thing," said Pinellas sheriff's spokesman Tim Goodman.
The man he helped, George Lowe, sees Spaulding's actions differently.
"As far as I'm concerned, he's my hero. He's my friend, but he's also my hero."
Lowe said he and Spaulding have worked for years to clean up their corner of the Lealman area, keeping a watch out for drug dealers, burglars and gang members and alerting police to problems.
Now, Spaulding is behind bars, awaiting a decision from the Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney's office. The case will require careful study before prosecutors decide whether to file an attempted murder charge, said Bruce Bartlett, chief assistant state attorney.
The man who was shot, James T. Moore of Seminole, was treated and released from Bayfront Medical Center on Sunday night, his 20th birthday.
After leaving the hospital, he went to jail. Deputies arrested Moore on a battery charge, based on an unrelated incident earlier Sunday night.
Lowe, who sustained bruises, a sore back and a torn leg muscle, said the incident began shortly after 9 p.m. Sunday when he heard loud noises outside his home in the 4000 block of 40th Street N.
Outside, he said, he discovered a group of young men had been pounding on cars and shouting. He told them to stop it and move on.
One man swung at him, missing, but then kicked Lowe in the hip, knocking him to the asphalt. He said two other men began kicking him. A fourth was present but didn't fight, he said.
Lowe said he did not hear a gun go off. After the fighting stopped, "somebody said "one of the guys was shot.' I said, "What do you mean, shot?' "
Asked later why Spaulding would have fired his gun, Lowe said, "To save my ass, I guess. I know I would have done it for him."
Spaulding, who has no criminal record in Florida, acknowledged firing the handgun, according to sheriff's records.
The other two men involved in the altercation were James Curtis Ganoe III and Eric James Palm, both 18, from St. Petersburg, sheriff's officials said. Neither had been charged with any offense Monday. Goodman, of the Sheriff's Office, said an investigation was continuing.
Describing Spaulding's actions, Goodman said, "I'm sure he was concerned for his friend's safety. . . . The use of a weapon to stop a confrontation is not the correct way. He would have been better off calling 911."
Bartlett said people in certain circumstances can fire at aggressors to prevent them from killing someone or causing "great bodily harm" to a victim.
Bartlett was not familiar with the case. He said if his office's investigation confirms that three young men were attacking a 63-year-old man, it's possible a case could be made that the force was justified.
"On the other hand, if it wasn't a life-threatening or great bodily harm scenario, then the intervening party had no justification to use the force," Bartlett said.
George Tragos, a defense attorney, former prosecutor and current vice chairman of the Florida Bar's criminal rules committee, said a key point to consider is whether Spaulding used greater force against Moore than Moore was using against Lowe. You can't use deadly force to stop a simple fistfight, he said.
Earlier Sunday night, deputies had been looking for Moore in connection with a similar incident. A man in the 3300 block of 55th Avenue N said four young men were walking by making noise. He asked them to be quiet, and Moore allegedly said he had a .45-caliber handgun. The other man said he had a gun inside, and Moore allegedly hit him in the face with a plastic bottle, sheriff's officials said.
He was held in the Pinellas County Jail late Monday on $1,263 bail.
