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Truth of shooting hard to nail down

Different stories from witnesses don't help the investigation into what happened to a teen behind a Port Richey after-hours club.

By MARY SPICUZZA
Published November 29, 2005

PORT RICHEY - The investigation into the shooting of a former Ridgewood High School student is being hampered by conflicting accounts from less-than-cooperative witnesses, according to Pasco Sheriff's Office spokesman Doug Tobin.

Joshua Regan Reverdes, 18, was behind Critters, an after-hours club off U.S. 19, at about 6:30 Saturday morning when a bullet grazed the back of his head.

His wound was not life-threatening and he was released from a hospital later Saturday.

"We're receiving different versions of the story from the same people, from different people," Tobin said Monday.

"Some of the people involved are not being forthcoming with information. We're still trying to figure out exactly what happened."

The accounts differ markedly in detail.

Reverdes and one other witness said that a fight broke out between two groups as they parked behind the business. One group, whose members wore red, numbered between 10 and 20 people, according to witness accounts. The other group was estimated at between five and 10.

The red clothing worn by the one group raised the question of possible gang involvement, but Tobin said deputies had no evidence to confirm that.

"It looked like mutual combat; it looked like a fight was going on," Tobin said. "But as far as gang-related activity, I don't have anything on that at this point."

Reverdes told a deputy that he and another person went to Critters to pick up a friend when he saw 15 to 20 people dressed in red emerge. They were fighting with five to 10 others.

He described those wearing red as "black or Hispanic," the Sheriff's Office report said.

Reverdes said a friend tried to get into their GMC van but was pulled out and beaten.

Reverdes said he then heard two or three shots, saw a flash over his shoulder, and felt a sharp pain on the top of his head, the report said.

The bullet left a one-inch-long cut at the top, rear portion of his head, the report said.

The witness who drove him to the hospital gave a similar account.

The Sheriff's Office did not release any of the witnesses' names because the case is an ongoing investigation.

However, another witnesses who arrived at the emergency room after the shooting said the fight actually began at Nocturnal BYOB, another club on U.S. 19. That witness "spontaneously started saying as he entered the hospital that this incident is all over a girl having her "a-- grabbed at Nocturnal's," the report said.

Two other witnesses, including the woman involved, said their group left Nocturnal soon after the incident.

They said Reverdes left the club and told them he had just been involved in a fight.

One witness said the suspects followed Reverdes to Critters.

The Sheriff's Office asks that anyone with information about the shooting call Detective Richard Harrison toll-free at 1-800-854-2862, ext. 7454.

--Mary Spicuzza can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6241 or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6241. Her e-mail address is mspicuzza@sptimes.com

[Last modified November 29, 2005, 02:15:28]