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SWAT team ends ordeal

Marksmen fire three shots, killing an armed Jacksonville man who held a woman hostage for two hours in a car outside a Tampa strip mall.

By SAUNDRA AMRHEIN and BILL VARIAN
Published February 2, 2005

[Times photo: Joseph Garnett Jr.] Police surround the automobile where Sandra Soley was held hostage.

Related 10 News video: Hostage taker shot to death by Tampa police

TAMPA - The man pointed a .38-caliber pistol at Sandra Soley and began to count down from 30, vowing to police that he would kill her and himself if he didn't get his way.

The numbers slipped away ... 29, 28, 27 ...

He demanded that hostage negotiators let him talk to his girlfriend by phone. He'd already done so once ... 19, 18, 17 ...

When he got to 12, Soley interrupted him. The man was growing more and more agitated and erratic. Again, he said he would kill her and himself.

"I'm not going back to prison," he told police.

That was enough. The situation had become too dangerous, and SWAT team snipers had him in their sights.

Three rifles fired, and the man slumped over dead. The hostage escaped with just a scrape wound from either a bullet or possibly glass.

That, said Tampa police spokeswoman Laura McElroy, is how a 21/2-hour standoff with a Jacksonville homicide suspect ended Tuesday night in a Tampa strip mall. The suspect, identified as Bobbie P. Miles, 27, of Jacksonville, was killed instantly.

"He was in a desperate situation, and he was getting more desperate," McElroy said.

The ordeal began shortly after 7 p.m. Local law enforcement got word that a suspect from a Jacksonville homicide, resulting from a drug deal gone bad, was traveling in the area, McElroy said.

Tampa police saw the car on Nebraska Avenue and followed him, she said. The man steered the car into the parking lot of the Tampa Festival Centre shopping mall, on east Hillsborough Avenue near 22nd Street.

A woman passenger, later identified as Miles' girlfriend, jumped from the car and fled into the woods, McElroy said. She was later apprehended. A Tampa couple in the back seat who had been picked up at a hotel also got out and were later taken into custody.

In the scramble, Miles ran toward Soley who, at the moment, was loading her shopping packages and two daughters, ages 7 and 3, into the car. She also had three other children with her - ages 5, 2 and 1 - of a friend who was still in the store.

"Run, run, run!" Soley screamed to the children as Miles took her at gunpoint and put her in his car.

The five children and the friend, Tanesha Walker, ran to safety into a store.

Hostage negotiators and SWAT members swarmed the scene. Helicopters hovered overhead. At least twice, they brought Miles cigarettes so he and Soley could smoke, McElroy said.

Store operators in the plaza say the commotion began shortly before 8 p.m. when police arrived en masse. They were ordered to stay inside their businesses and to keep their customers inside with them, but weren't told what was happening.

Brandi Dunlap, a junior assistant manager at Rainbow Apparel, said police arrived about 7:40 p.m., just as the shop was getting ready to close for the night.

Several customers were in the store, and they asked to leave. Store workers said they could do so, but at their own risk. They did leave, but police didn't let them exit the parking lot.

"We're not necessarily nervous, just ready to go home," Dunlap said. "We've been working hard. We're ready to go home."

Al Hatab, assistant manager at the Dollar Store, said about 20 shoppers and his three cashiers were rounded up into a back room of the store.

Hatab said he saw police enter one of the other clothing stores in the plaza. He said he then saw police remove a Hispanic man and woman from a car in the parking lot outside, but he was not sure if they were the subject of police interest, or simply being removed for their safety.

"I don't think we'll be closing at 9 tonight," Hatab said, otherwise expressing his own lack of concern for his safety.

"I feel very safe tonight because I have a million police officers in front of me," he said.

At nearby Middleton High School, students from Plant and King high schools who were participating in a semifinal playoff soccer game were herded into the gym at half-time as the campus was put on lockdown. After about 45 minutes, police allowed parents to pick up the students, and the game was rescheduled for Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the Tampa couple were cooperating with police, McElroy said. They told officials the car Miles was driving belonged to the homicide victim. McElroy said the two were not expected to be charged.

Miles' girlfriend, who had fled, was apprehended. They let her talk to Miles through a hostage negotiator telephone once. But he wanted to talk to her again. Negotiations were going downhill and fast, McElroy said.

That's when he threatened to kill Soley and himself if he weren't allowed to talk to his girlfriend in 30 seconds. He began the count. At around 12 seconds, Soley interrupted him and started talking to him, McElroy said.

But once again, he started threatening to kill them both. He wasn't going back to prison, he said.

State prison records indicate that Miles, nicknamed "Boo Boo," had been convicted of cocaine trafficking and a weapons charge. He was released from prison in October after serving a year.

At 9:45 p.m., a loud boom echoed over the parking lot, like a car backfire. Then at least two more booms.

The SWAT team opened fire. Miles died on the spot. Soley was flown to Tampa General Hospital with only minor injuries to her arm from some type of wound. McElroy said it could have been a scrape from a passing bullet or other debris.

"We're just thankful she's alive," McElroy said.

Times staff writer Dan Genovese contributed to this report.

[Last modified February 2, 2005, 04:05:59]