Police say the suspect shot two men, one of them fatally, in the Jackson Heights neighborhood.
By KEVIN GRAHAM
Published December 10, 2003
TAMPA - Police accuse an 18-year-old man of fatally shooting one Tampa man in the head and wounding another in the hand in an apparent ambush Tuesday afternoon.
Astley G. Willis Jr. of 5004 N 32nd St., Tampa, has been charged with first-degree murder with a firearm, attempted first-degree murder with a firearm and aggravated assault with a firearm, police said.
Police spokesman Joe Durkin said Ramon Fitzgerald Filer, 19, of 3210 E Paris St., and Jackie Demetrius Black, 18, of 3910 E Jean St., were riding in the back of a Ranger pickup with three other men. A passenger sat with the driver in the cab.
About 3:30 p.m., as the truck passed through a Jackson Heights neighborhood and approached N 32nd Street and E Ellicott Street, police said, Willis fired three times at the vehicle. Filer was struck in the head and Black was shot in the hand.
Filer died at Tampa General Hospital. The three others riding in the back of the truck weren't injured, and police did not release their names Tuesday night.
The driver of the Ranger went about four blocks to N 32nd Street and E Giddens Avenue after the shots were fired. Once there, the driver and the front-seat passenger left the truck and ran.
Durkin said that around 7 p.m. detectives found Willis in a Motel 6 near U.S. 301 and Interstate 4 and arrested him.
"The defendant refused to talk to detectives," Durkin said. "Information we've learned from neighbors in the area is there may have been some ongoing type of feud between the victim and his companions and the shooter."
Durkin said he didn't expect any other arrests to be made.
