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Letter to the editor

Argument boils over; man slain

By MICHAEL A. MOHAMMED
Published June 13, 2007

TAMPA - An argument in a South Tampa parking lot proved fatal for a 28-year-old Tampa man Tuesday night.

The victim, Omar R. Glover, was in the passenger seat of a white Chevrolet driven by a friend. They were in the parking lot of a barber shop at Manhattan Avenue two blocks north of Gandy Boulevard.

The two men got into a dispute with someone at the scene about 7:15 p.m, witnesses later told police.

Glover's friend started backing the car out of the lot, but the man fired a gun at them, striking Glover in the chest, police said.

Glover slumped over the dashboard. The shooter fled. The friend dove out of the car as it swerved across a sidewalk and into a shallow ditch.

Glover, of Tampa, died shortly after paramedics arrived, said police Lt. Bruce Leidholdt.

By 8 p.m., Glover's body lay under a bloodstained sheet in the light of a Florida Gators billboard. Police tape held back his anguished relatives and dozens of curious onlookers.

Also known as Antone Breedlove, Jonathan Layton, Rajaha Webb, Jessie Burden and numerous other aliases, Glover's life was etched on his skin. State law enforcement records list an inventory of scars - on his lip, right eye, forehead, shoulder, elbow and arm. Tattoos marked his right shoulder and left arm.

His history also bears blemishes. Since 1996, when he was 17, Tampa police and Hillsborough sheriff's deputies arrested Glover 28 times on charges that include driving without a license to distribution of crack cocaine within a school zone.

Police were still working on a description of the suspect late Tuesday night, Leidholdt said.

The driver of the car, who police are not identifying because he is a witness to a murder investigation, told police he could not remember anything about the gunman's appearance, Leidholdt said.

Michael A. Mohammed can be reached at mmohammed@sptimes.com or 813 226-3404.

[Last modified June 13, 2007, 01:09:27]