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Three arrested in gang shooting

A fourth man is still wanted in connection with the deaths last month of two young men in Town
'N Country.

By SHANNON COLAVECCHIO-VAN SICKLER
Published March 17, 2006

 TAMPA --Hillsborough sheriff's detectives have arrested three young men, and are looking for a fourth, in connection with the gang shooting in Town 'N Country last month that left two dead.

Brian Joseph Lima, 18, was arrested Thursday night on two counts of second-degree murder. Freddie Vasquez Jr., 19, was arrested in Pasco County on one count of discharging a firearm in public.

Elijah M. Thomas, 16, already in juvenile detention, was charged with trying to hide the 12-gauge shotguns used in the shootings. Authorities say Julio Efrain Navarro, 17, helped Thomas hide the guns in the backyard of a house they broke into the night of the shooting. They have a warrant for his arrest.

Sheriff's investigators have spent the past month tracking down the four, all of them members or affiliates of the Bloods gang, according to Major Robert Shrader.

Shrader said Lima fired several shots from Vasquez's front yard the night of Feb. 20, when about 15 members of the TNC Boys gang went to Vasquez's home following earlier gang disputes. The bullets struck and killed Michael Roberts, 19; and Sebastian Luengas, 16.

Vasquez also had a shotgun filled with buckshot, but he fired into the air from his backyard, Shrader said.

After the shooting, Navarro and Thomas broke into a nearby home and buried the guns in the backyard, Shrader said.

[Last modified March 17, 2006, 13:54:28]