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City resident is shot in his apartment

He is recovering at Bayfront Medical Center, but he can't tell authorities much about the two men who broke into his apartment.

By TAMARA EL-KHOURY
Published August 24, 2005

	[Times photo: Scott Keeler]
	Members of the Pinellas County sheriff's forensic unit and detectives from the Clearwater Police Department investigate at the scene of a shooting Tuesday on S Madison Avenue. The victim, 27-year-old Joshua G. Gunn, was taken by helicopter to Bayfront Medical Center, where he was in fair condition Tuesday night.

CLEARWATER - Joshua G. Gunn couldn't tell authorities much about the man who shot him.

What police do know is that Gunn, 27, was in his garage apartment at 1383B S Madison Ave. about 9 a.m. Tuesday when he heard a commotion, police spokesman Wayne Shelor said.

Two men had forced their way into his apartment, where Gunn confronted them in his living room. At some point, he was shot at least once in the torso with a handgun, Shelor said.

A window in the apartment was broken, although Shelor did not say how it was broken.

Gunn was treated by Clearwater Fire Department paramedics before he was flown by helicopter to Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg, Shelor said. It was not known who first alerted the police.

Gunn was conscious and lucid when the authorities arrived, but he was not able to give them much of a description of the two men who were involved in his shooting or the vehicle in which they fled, Shelor said. He said authorities do not know whether Gunn knew the men previously or why he was targeted.

Police will interview Gunn once he recovers from surgery, Shelor said. He was in fair condition at Bayfront Medical Center on Tuesday night.

In June, Gunn was sentenced to probation in Pinellas on a misdemeanor charge of possession of marijuana, court records show. He pleaded guilty in Hillsborough in 1998 on several charges, including battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting arrest, according to court records.

Times researcher Angie Drobnic Holan contributed to this report.

[Last modified August 24, 2005, 01:15:20]