Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Cheney to address defense conference Friday in Tampa

By Times Staff
Published June 9, 2005

The Tampa-based Special Operations Command is sponsoring Special Operations Forces Week, known as SOF Week, at the Tampa Convention Center. The annual gathering brings together representatives of the defense industry and officials of the Special Operations Command, which oversees the nation's supersecret commandoes.

During the conference, SoCom also recognizes Special Operations Forces that have excelled in the war on terror. On Friday, Vice President Dick Cheney will preside over a "Heroism Awards" ceremony at MacDill Air Force Base and later address the conference at the Convention Center. Activities include golf and social outings.

An exhibition of Special Operations weapons systems is also on display at the convention center.

TAMPA - Terah Hanna, the Tampa man who shot and killed himself at his aunt's doorstep Tuesday, was likely the carjacker who fatally shot 43-year-old Gregory Kirk Williams minutes earlier, police said Wednesday.

Tampa police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said investigators are awaiting results of blood tests to confirm that Hanna was the carjacker. But findings from his autopsy left detectives "feeling more strongly that the murder suspect is the suicide victim."

McElroy said Hanna's autopsy also revealed that Williams, who lost both legs in a car crash 11 years ago, shot Hanna in the chest during a struggle inside the cab of Williams' white Chevy pickup truck.

Hanna, 34, died of a head wound but also had been shot in the chest, McElroy said.

Florida deaths caused by overdoses of the prescription painkiller methadone increased by 51 percent last year, according to a state report released Wednesday by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Methadone deaths have soared over the past several years, making it a leading drug killer in Florida. During the first six months of last year, methadone was tied with cocaine as the cause of the most overdose deaths.

[Last modified June 9, 2005, 06:11:45]