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Few answers in shooting's wake

As police pursue the search for Kwane Doster's killer, a community rallies to comfort his family.

By SHERRI DAY and SAUNDRA AMRHEIN
Published December 28, 2004

TAMPA - Family and friends of Kwane Doster, the former Robinson High School football star who was shot and killed in Ybor City early Sunday, gathered at his Port Tampa home Monday to pay their respects.

As they grieved, they longed for answers. Was Doster the intended target of the shooting? Or, as a witness told the family Monday, was the gunman aiming at someone else?

Police made no arrests Monday, but they did find the car that the gunman had been in. They recovered an orange four-door Infiniti J30 in North Tampa near Smuggler's Cove housing complex near 44th Street, said Tampa police spokesman Joe Durkin.

He wouldn't say how detectives found the car, but he did say that police know who owns it. Durkin declined to say whether investigators had spoken with the owner.

"We're talking to a number of people," he said.

More than anything now, Doster's family wants arrests.

"The person that did this just needs to come clean," said Gwen Hadley, a family friend. "He's not going to rest, because we're not going to let this go. God will not give him a moment's rest until he comes clean about what he did to Kwane."

Doster, a 21-year-old football player at Vanderbilt University, where he was a junior, had come home for the holidays. He spent Christmas at a family gathering in Seminole Heights.

Shortly after midnight, he was ready to return home. Because his relatives wanted to stay longer, he called a friend to pick him up.

The friend, whom police have not named, drove Doster down Nebraska Avenue, stopping to get food at an Ybor City restaurant.

About 2 a.m., an orange Infiniti with three men inside pulled alongside the car that Doster was in. Someone inside the Infiniti began shooting, police said.

Doster, who was sitting behind the driver, was hit in the chest and died at Tampa General Hospital. Neither the driver nor another passenger in Doster's car was injured, police said.

Hadley said the family received several telephone calls from the second passenger in Doster's car Monday. The passenger, whom police have not named, told the family that the gunman's problem was with the car's driver, not Doster.

Hadley said the car's driver had not called to express his condolences or to explain what happened. That puzzled her because Doster and the other two young men who were in the car were longtime friends who grew up together in Port Tampa.

"I'm not drawing any conclusions," she said. "I'm just saying, what's up?"

Now, she ponders "what ifs." What if the family had left together? What if she had offered to take Doster home?

"I wish to God I'd given him my truck because he wouldn't have needed a ride," Hadley said.

At Vanderbilt on Monday, Doster's football coach, Bobby Johnson, called the shooting "senseless and tragic."

"This is the first time a violent act has taken somebody away from us," Johnson said. "I was just shocked and devastated."

Back at Doster's home in Tampa, two of his Vanderbilt teammates from Florida kept vigil outside the door.

Brian Stamper, an offensive tackle from Windermere, brought a collage of photos highlighting Doster's football career.

Another Orlando-area player, Kevin Joyce, brought a home-cooked meal from his mother's stove to the Doster family.

"I'm within driving distance," Joyce said, explaining why he came so quickly. "It'd be wrong not to ... It's just something that you don't expect to happen."

Mike DePue, the head football coach at Robinson High School where Doster was a star running back, flew home Monday from a vacation in Maine and headed to the Doster house. At Robinson, Doster was a legend, an honor student who also dazzled on the football field. After he enrolled at Vanderbilt in 2002, he often returned home to offer guidance to the team's current players.

Late Monday, DePue was in search of Doster's younger brother Jermaine, a Robinson student who plays football and wears his brother's number.

"We're concerned with him," DePue said. "He's got a big void in his life right now. Port Tampa is a very close-knit community. People are going to be there to support not just Jermaine, but the entire family."

The family plans to hold memorial services for Doster later in the week.

A wake is scheduled for Thursday from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at St. Mark Missionary Baptist Church in Port Tampa, the family said. Funeral services will take place Friday at 1 p.m. at First Baptist Church of Port Tampa.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report. Sherri Day can be reached at sday@sptimes.com or 813 226-3405.

[Last modified December 28, 2004, 00:22:06]