Court hears of fatal night in Ybor

After a fight in a hip-hop club, rivals faced each other on streets.

By ALEXANDRA ZAYAS, Times Staff Writer
Published October 17, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT Onassis George was identified by a mounted police officer. Howard Williams was shot in the chest and one hand.

TAMPA - Gunshots echoed through Ybor City the early morning of May 20, a block away from Empire Nightclub.

They killed Howard Williams, landed Onassis George in jail and stirred months of outcry by city officials, neighbors and police about the dangers on the block that is home to two hip-hop clubs.

Tuesday in Hillsborough circuit court, the prosecution's witnesses re-created that night in testimony. This is what they remember:

As the club crowd spilled into the street, two groups of men paced opposite sides of E Seventh Avenue in Ybor City, pounding their fists into their hands, staring hard.

Punches had flown inside Empire, and bouncers kicked out six to 10 men at about 2:30 a.m. On the sidewalk, the rivals broke into a scuffle. Police dispersed the crowd.

But at least two men lingered: a man in a red shirt, muttering and irritated. And across the street, Elja Lindsey, just as mad.

Tampa police Officer Colin McCoy turned to Lindsey. McCoy said, "Buddy, you looking for trouble? You're in the right place."

Lindsey left.

McCoy directed the attention of a fellow officer to the man in the red shirt. "We need to keep an eye on this guy."

About 10 minutes later, Lindsey and his friend Williams walked toward a parking lot one block south. Lindsey saw a man in a red shirt approach. He saw a gun in his hand.

"What are you going to say now?" Lindsey heard the man ask. He couldn't see his face.

Four shots rang out. They struck 28-year-old Williams in the chest and hand.

Perched 8 feet high on a horse, Officer Sal Mazza arrived at the scene first, and spotted a man in a red shirt racing south. At a full gallop, Mazza pursued him through the parking lot, through a yard, onto the sidewalk.

A Dodge Durango waited for the man on Fifth Avenue.

"Hurry up!" Mazza heard someone call from inside the car. "Get in!"

The man was about 10 feet away from escape when Mazza made a split-second decision. He knocked the man down with the chest of his horse.

The man got up again, so Mazza knocked him down again.

He trapped the man between his horse's hooves until backup arrived.

Mazza told prosecutors he got a good look at the man he chased, the man police arrested and charged with first-degree murder. In court, he pointed to 29-year-old Onassis George.

Lindsey never saw the gunman's face, but he identified George as someone they fought with in the club.

Later that morning, police found a five-shot revolver along George's flight path. Four spent shell casings and one unfired bullet remained in its chambers.

Also that morning, 29-year-old Keisha Heath got a knock on her door, notifying her that her boyfriend had been shot. Williams died four days later.

He was a big guy, shy about his goofy ears, his girlfriend said.

By day, he worked as a machinist. He was a father figure to Heath's nephew and tucked his grandmother into bed at night.

He has been arrested, but wasn't violent, she said. He was quiet, humble.

He didn't go clubbing often.

Testimony resumes today in courtroom 51A before Circuit Court Judge Barbara Fleischer.

Alexandra Zayas can be reached at azayas@sptimes.com or 813 226-3354.

[Last modified October 16, 2007, 23:14:37]