Before shooting, trash talk about cars

Police find the other car involved in the shooting of Kwane Doster, but make no arrests.

By SHANNON COLAVECCHIO-VAN SICKLER
Published December 29, 2004

TAMPA - Kwane Doster, the Vanderbilt University running back with a promising future, may have died Christmas weekend over nothing more than a brief rivalry about souped-up cars.

Detectives think Doster was shot early Sunday outside an Ybor City sandwich shop following a confrontation about which car was better - the Oldsmobile Cutlass in which he was a passenger, or an orange Infiniti J30 that Doster and two friends had encountered earlier outside a downtown club.

"It started with, "Whose car is better?' " said Tampa Police spokesman Joe Durkin. "And it escalated from there."

By the time it was over, Doster, 21, was bleeding from a gunshot wound to the chest as he sat in the back of the Oldsmobile.

Several witnesses in the parking lot and inside the sandwich shop scrambled for cover as bullets flew, Durkin said. But by the time police arrived, the potential witnesses were gone.

Doster died about an hour later at Tampa General Hospital, only a few miles from Robinson High School, where his prowess on the football field and in the classroom earned him a scholarship to Vanderbilt.

On Monday, detectives found the orange Infiniti in North Tampa near the Smuggler's Cove apartment complex near 44th Street. They spoke to the car's owner, Durkin said, but they need more information before they can make any arrests.

"There's more to this than knowing the owner of the Infiniti and locking him up," Durkin said. "There's a lot of speculation and uncertainty as to who was actually in that car and who actually did the shooting.

"We need to talk to those witnesses around the restaurant to get more information to build this case."

Police know this much: The confrontation Sunday began between 1:30 a.m. and 1:45 a.m., not long after Doster had left a family Christmas celebration in Seminole Heights to spend time with friends, Durkin said.

Doster was in the parking lot of Club Underground, a nightclub at Whiting and Jefferson streets, along with the driver of the Oldsmobile and another friend. Police have not released the names of the two friends.

Three other people were in the parking lot in the orange Infiniti, Durkin said. They noticed the Cutlass and started "trash-talking," Durkin said.

"The two parties exchanged words and stares over their cars," he said. "Both cars were very showy."

Doster and his friends left the club but crossed paths with the Infiniti at Cass Street and Nebraska Avenue a few minutes later, Durkin said. More words were exchanged.

The parties separated again, and Doster and his friends drove to Salems Gyro Shop at 1611 N Nebraska Ave. in Ybor City.

Within minutes, the Infiniti pulled into the parking lot. It was about 2 a.m.

At least one person in the Infiniti got out and started shooting at the Oldsmobile with a large-caliber gun, Durkin said. The shooter fired as many as five times.

Durkin said it doesn't appear the shooter was aiming specifically at Doster, who sat behind the driver's seat. But he was the only person hit.

"It just seems so stupid to be fighting over a stupid car," Gwen Hadley, a friend of the Doster family, said Tuesday. "To have lost a life angel over a car."

Doster's family, friends, coaches and Vanderbilt teammates described him as quiet and reserved - not the kind to get into a verbal confrontation with strangers.

"That's not Kwane," Hadley said. "To be out there talking trash and talking noise, that's not him. That's not his way."

People continued to stop by the Doster house in Port Tampa throughout the day Tuesday to offer their respects.

Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio called Kelly Doster, Kwane's mother, to offer condolences.

Doster's mother also received a call from the parents of former NFL defensive lineman Reggie White, who also died Sunday, at age 43.

White's father told Doster's mother that he was compelled to reach out to her after seeing news reports on the deaths of both players.

"He said, "My son was there to help block for your son. The Minister of Defense blocked the way for the running back to score his final and biggest touchdown into glory,"' Hadley said Tuesday.

In 2002, Doster, who played football and baseball at Robinson High, was the first Vanderbilt player to be recognized as the Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Year. He rushing for 798 yards, a team record.

A wake is scheduled for Thursday from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at St. Mark Missionary Baptist Church in Port Tampa.

Funeral services will take place Friday at 1 p.m. at First Baptist Church of Port Tampa.

Doster's football coach, Bobby Johnson, said Vanderbilt's chancellor has arranged for the university to charter a flight into Tampa early Friday for any football player who wants to come say a final goodbye to Doster.

When he heard detectives' version of the circumstances leading up to Doster's death, he called it "senseless."

"Kwane isn't the kind of person we would think of getting into a situation where something like this could happen," he said. "It's just rotten luck."

Anyone who witnessed the shooting can call homicide Det. Brent Holder at (813) 276-3509 or Tampa police at (813) 231-6130.

Shannon Colavecchio-Van Sickler can be reached at 813 226-3373 or svansickler@sptimes.com

[Last modified December 29, 2004, 00:18:18]