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Video of shooting shown in Lima trial

The man who took it testified Tuesday he cracked the tape after being told to destroy it.

By COLLEEN JENKINS
Published August 16, 2006

TAMPA - Joe Bankston bought his video camera in time to film the parades and bead throwing at this year's Gasparilla.

The Dollar Tree cashier didn't have any formal camera training; he just filmed for fun.

But when he pulled the camera back out a few weeks later, Bankston captured the tense moments leading up to a fatal gang-related shooting in Town 'N Country.

Jurors saw that tape Tuesday during day two of Brian Joseph Lima's second-degree murder trial.

Authorities say Lima killed Sebastian Luengas, 16, and Michael Roberts, 20, the night of Feb. 20, punctuating weeks of tension between the TNC Boys and Bloods and illustrating a gang problem that Hillsborough County Sheriff David Gee wants quashed.

The tape, presented by prosecutors, showed the Bloods provoking a fight. But it also caught Roberts firing a gun in response to the taunting, bolstering the defense's claim that Lima fired shots later that night in self defense.

Jurors watched three brief sequences on the tape. Despite poor sound and picture quality, the video was clear enough to show the action unfold.

First, a black car carrying Bloods drove by an apartment complex where a dozen or so TNC Boys members were hanging out. Someone in the car yelled out the window, suggesting a fight.

Bankston, 21, said his friend, Roberts, drew a gun. Bankston told him not to shoot.

"Mike, yo, you better not bust that s--- around my block," Bankston said on the film.

Roberts fired twice, the muzzle sparks flashing on the screen.

Shortly after, the TNC Boys, and one girl, loaded into two cars and headed to the home of Freddie Vasquez Jr., a Bloods' member. The tape showed the view over one of the car's dashboards.

"You need to stop taping this," someone said to Bankston.

He kept taping, anticipating a fight.

In the final scene, a shadowy group of TNC Boys walked toward Vasquez's home at 7902 Woodgrove Circle. One of the teens yelled, "What's up with the head up?" - street slang for seeking a one-on-one fist fight.

More yelling, and the tape went dead.

That's the point at which Lima, 18, fired multiple rounds of buckshot from a shotgun, prosecutor Barbara Coleman said. Luengas and Roberts, who witnesses said no longer carried his gun, were hit as they ran away.

Lima's trial continues today. He also is charged with seven counts of aggravated assault with a discharged gun and could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted of second-degree murder.

Bankston said his videotape initially was a few seconds longer and captured sounds of the first gunshot. But when he got home that night, he cracked the video in half.

"Everybody was telling me to destroy it," he testified. "I didn't know what to do."

He later led detectives to the tape.

Then Bankston got rid of the video camera. He didn't feel like taping anymore.

Colleen Jenkins can be reached at cjenkins@sptimes.com or 813 226-3337.

[Last modified August 16, 2006, 05:31:45]