Father slain, but tot unhurt

Police find the dead man with a baby bottle on his chest.

By Abbie VanSickle, Times Staff Writer
Published February 27, 2008

TAMPA - Behind the yellow police tape and in front of dozens of onlookers, two mothers fell to the ground in grief.

Dale T. Matthews, 19, lay fatally shot Tuesday morning inside a home at Louisiana Avenue and 34th Street. Police found a baby bottle on his chest, and his infant daughter, unharmed and crying, in a bedroom.

As detectives combed through the East Tampa house and reporters set up for a news conference, Matthews' mother, Nettie McBride, 42, drove up and ran past the crime scene tape toward the home.

"Where is my grandbaby? Where is my son?" she yelled at the officers. "Where's she at? Let me in my house, please. Where is my grandbaby?"

After she heard of her son's death, she crumpled to the ground, wailing.

An officer appeared at the door. In his arms he held a baby wrapped in a pink blanket.

The crowd of onlookers, who had been chatting and milling around, fell quiet.

A slim, young woman in a nursing scrubs top crossed the police tape toward McBride. She reached out her arms and dropped to the ground.

McBride had called Sierra Sam at work with the news that something bad had happened at 3222 Louisiana Ave. Renee Miller, director of the True Holiness Church Childcare, took the call. She and Sam drove to the house.

Sam, 20, met Matthews two years ago at a club. They were not married and did not live together, but Matthews helped out when his daughter, Lailah Monique Sam, was born, watching her five days a week so Sam could work.

Police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said there's a history of criminal activity at the house.

Abbie VanSickle can be reached at vansickle@sptimes.com or 813-226-3373.

[Last modified February 26, 2008, 23:28:48]