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Birthday party ends in shooting death
By ABHI RAGHUNATHAN
Published April 3, 2007
ST. PETERSBURG - After celebrating a friend's birthday, eight buddies decided to hang out at one of their homes Sunday afternoon. That celebration at 3951 55th Ave. N turned deadly. Mathew Patterson, 21, picked up a handgun and pointed it at 17-year-old Shaun Rutenbeck, the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office said Monday. Patterson pulled the trigger once, according to the Sheriff's Office. The bullet hit Rutenbeck in the head, killing him. Patterson left the house in the Lealman area of St. Petersburg after firing the shot, the Sheriff's Office said. He turned himself in later that day, though he refused to give a statement. After interviewing the others at the house, the Sheriff's Office arrested Patterson early Monday on a manslaughter charge. According to an arrest report, Patterson may have been drinking. He has a record that includes arrests on charges of aggravated assault, criminal mischief and throwing a deadly missile. Barbara Szeglowski, 49, Rutenbeck's mother, said her son loved to draw and wanted to become a tattoo artist. He attended Dixie Hollins High School, but dropped out and planned to work toward passing a GED test. He was her only child. "Right now is a really hard time," Szeglowski said. "It's difficult to talk about it." Szeglowski said Patterson and her son were friends. Patterson has even been over to their house a couple of times. Harry Rutenbeck, 77, Shaun's grandfather, described his grandson as a quiet boy who wore baggy clothes and played the guitar. When Shaun's grandmother died, he inscribed a tattoo on his arm as a memorial to her. "When you're 77, you've been to a lot of funerals," Harry Rutenbeck said. "But it's tough. ... It's heartbreaking to lose a family member. I just thought the world of Shaun." Times researcher Angie Drobnic Holan contributed to this report. Abhi Raghunathan can be reached at araghunathan@sptimes.com or 727 893-8472.
[Last modified April 3, 2007, 00:54:48]
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