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Plant City teen was 'a good kid'

The 17-year-old accidentally shot himself in the head with a stolen gun Wednesday night.

By ELISABETH DYER
Published November 3, 2006

PLANT CITY - Like most boys who live on the northern fringe of Plant City, 17-year-old Devin Fontaine fished the ponds that dot the pastures.

He liked to play basketball with friends and football games on his Xbox, neighbors said.

Typical, harmless kid stuff.

But on Wednesday, Fontaine and a friend, Barrick Velazquez, 16, broke a window and climbed into a neighbor's home at 5707 Ike Smith Road, sheriff's officials said.

They took more than five guns and some jewelry back to Velazquez's home at 5109 Gallagher Road, officials said.

It was there, at 7:48 p.m. Wednesday, that Fontaine accidentally shot himself in the head with one of the guns, described as a large-caliber handgun, officials said.

He died at the scene.

Thursday afternoon, a red bicycle leaned against the beige mobile home, owned by Maria Velazquez, Barrick's mother.

An answering machine at the home wished callers a "God-filled day."

Fontaine had recently moved in with Barrick Velazquez and his mother and younger sister, said neighbor Scott McMeekin, 17.

"He was a good kid," said McMeekin, on his way to a candlelight vigil Thursday evening with friends at the Walden Lake Polo Fields where Fontaine liked to hang out.

Fontaine's mother, Tina Fontaine, lived a block away. Family gathered there Thursday, and a boy who said he was Fontaine's cousin said everyone was too shaken to talk.

Earlier, Velazquez had turned himself in at the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office in Brandon and was charged with armed residential burglary, grand theft of more than $20,000 in value and grand theft of a firearm.

He is being held at the Juvenile Assessment Center. He will not be charged in Fontaine's death, said sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter.

Fontaine was a senior at Plant City High School. Principal David Steele said many of his students were distraught by the news and spent hours with crisis team members.

Elisabeth Dyer can be reached at edyer@sptimes.com or 813 226-3321.

[Last modified November 3, 2006, 06:07:14]