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Police say man fired at apartment above
William Arthur Delaney, 32, faces a felony charge of shooting into an occupied dwelling.
By SHANNON COLAVECCHIO-VAN SICKLER
Published June 14, 2005
TAMPA - Just before 11 p.m. Saturday, two women heard a shot followed by a bang inside their second-floor Camden Westshore apartment.
They ran to one of the bedrooms and found a hole in the floor and a bullet casing nearby.
Police say the shot came from the apartment below, where resident William Arthur Delaney got drunk and fired his loaded shotgun.
Delaney, 32, a promotions coordinator for the Clear Channel station 98-ROCK, was arrested and booked into the county jail on a felony charge of shooting into an occupied dwelling and on misdemeanor charges of culpable negligence and using a firearm while intoxicated.
Delaney was so intoxicated that officers called to his apartment after the women upstairs dialed 911 could not get him to open the door, Tampa police spokesman Joe Durkin said.
"They looked in the window and saw Delaney lying on the floor of his apartment," Durkin said. "He appeared to be unresponsive. They didn't know if he was just intoxicated or if he had been injured."
A manager for the apartment complex at 4800 West Shore Blvd. opened the door to apartment 102, Durkin said. Officers tried to rouse Delaney, but he wouldn't budge.
"They used ammonia caps to bring him to," Durkin said.
When Delaney was later given a breath test at the Orient Road jail, his blood alcohol level was measured at .223 - almost three times the level at which a person is presumed too intoxicated to drive under Florida law.
Police seized from Delaney's apartment a shotgun, an AK-47, ammunition and several knives, according to a police report.
"Fortunately there were no injuries," Durkin said. "But his recklessness could have led to the death of the occupants above him."
State records show this is Delaney's first arrest in Florida.
Delaney could not be reached for comment Monday.
--Times staff researcher Cathy Wos contributed to this report. Shannon Colavecchio-Van Sickler can be reached at 813 226-3373 or svansickler@sptimes.com
[Last modified June 14, 2005, 06:30:44]
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