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Three charged in gang-related killings

Investigators are still looking for a fourth suspect in a February shooting at an apartment complex in Town 'N Country.

By SHANNON COLAVECCHIO-VAN SICKLER
Published March 18, 2006

TAMPA - Four weeks after the gang-related shooting in Town 'N Country that left two former Leto High School students dead, sheriff's investigators have charged three young men in connection with the killings.

As Hillsborough sheriff's officials announced the arrests Friday, they continued to look for a fourth suspect.

All four are members or affiliates of the Bloods, one of several gangs operating in northwest Hillsborough, said Maj. Robert Shrader.

The night of Feb. 20, the men faced off against members and affiliates of the TNC Boys gang, following a beef that started two days earlier at a local carnival, Shrader said.

About 9:30 p.m., the TNC Boys and the Bloods got into a confrontation at the Cimarron Apartments, at Jackson Springs Road and Hanley Road in Town 'N Country.

Half an hour later, about 15 people, later identified by detectives as TNC members and associates, drove up in two cars and started throwing rocks at the home of Bloods member Freddie Vasquez Jr., 19.

Vasquez and a Blood associate, 18-year-old Brian Joseph Lima, had 12-gauge shotguns loaded with buckshot, detectives said.

Vasquez fired once from his back yard at 7902 Woodgrove Circle, Shrader said.

Lima fired several shots at the TNC Boys as he stood on Vasquez's front porch, killing Michael Roberts, 20, and Sebastian Luengas, 16.

Lima of 7015 Cobblewood Court was arrested Thursday night and booked into the Orient Road Jail on two counts of second-degree murder. He is being held without bail.

Vasquez was arrested in Pasco County and charged with discharging a firearm in public, a misdemeanor.

Detectives also charged 16-year-old Elijah M. Thomas of 8016 N 10th St. with tampering with evidence. Shrader said Thomas and Julio Efrain Navarro, 17, broke into a nearby home right after the shooting and buried the shotguns in the back yard.

The home at 8418 Woodhurst Drive belonged to "a perfect stranger," Shrader said. "They were in a hurry."

Authorities have since recovered the weapons. Thomas has been in the juvenile detention center since March 7, when sheriff's investigators accused him of breaking into the Woodhurst Drive house.

Navarro is at large, but detectives have a warrant for his arrest.

Michael Roberts' mother, Cathy Roberts, maintains that her son was not a gang member but hung out with "the wrong crowd."

Friday, she had mixed emotions about the arrests.

"To know that someone who would murder someone else is off the street, it gives me some peace of mind," said Roberts, 51. "But it won't bring Michael or Sebastian back."

Shrader said the four young men are well known to sheriff's deputies, particularly those involved in the sheriff's gang task force.

Vasquez was charged with burglary and grand theft in June 2003, when he was 16, but the case was dismissed, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Navarro was charged with having a weapon on school grounds in December 2000, when he was 12. Tampa police charged him in January 2004 with petty theft.

Thomas was arrested in December on charges of petty theft and burglary of a dwelling, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. In the weeks since the shootings, the Sheriff's Office has intensified antigang efforts in the area, Shrader said.

Sheriff David Gee has made gangs a focus of his first term, forming the gang task force soon after he took office in January 2005.

In September, he stood in Town 'N Country's Jackson Springs Park and announced that a six-month push by the task force resulted in the arrests of more than 100 gang members and associates on charges including attempted murder, robbery, home invasion, drug trafficking and assault.

Friday, Gee said his agency will continue to put pressure on the county's three dozen or so gangs. The push is imperative for public safety, Gee said, because gang members aren't just mischievous teenagers hanging out together and vandalizing property.

"Gang members call it the thug life, and they really aspire to that," Gee said. "With gangs, the activity is more organized, it's violent. The graffiti you see is a sign of their territory, but it's not as much about property crimes as it is hurting people.

"You see beatings. You see drive-by shootings."

Times researcher Cathy Wos contributed to this report. Shannon Colavecchio-Van Sickler can be reached at 813 226-3373 or svansickler@sptimes.com

[Last modified March 18, 2006, 02:30:29]