Teen shot by friend struggles to survive

Authorities say a friend shot Eric Wright, 15, on New Year's Eve. Then two others helped drag him into some nearby woods.

By AMY HERDY

© St. Petersburg Times, published January 2, 2001

TAMPA -- John Fraczek had just pulled up to share the last minutes of New Year's Eve with a friend when he noticed three teenage buddies standing across the street in the bitter cold.

Upon moving closer, Fraczek saw a fourth boy, who appeared to be snoring softly, lying motionless on the ground.

What happened next shocked him.

"James said they heard gunshots and they thought he might be shot," he recalled hearing his friend, 16-year-old James Hargrove, say of the motionless youth.

Then, the 17-year-old Fraczek said, "James said they were going to take him into the woods and leave him there."

Sheriff's deputies said the three youths, identified as Hargrove, 15-year-old Andrew Hiers and 16-year-old Billy Walker, did just that, dragging and carrying 15-year-old Eric Wright about 200 yards to some nearby woods.

The teens, who had been smoking marijuana and drinking beer and whiskey, apparently panicked after Hargrove shot Wright in the back of the head about 11:30 p.m. while playing with a .22-caliber revolver inside his mother's Seffner mobile home, said sheriff's spokesman Rod Reder.

Late Monday, Wright, who is on life support, was listed in extremely critical condition at Tampa General Hospital.

Reder said Hargrove's mother, Sari Mallary, was home during the shooting, but did not hear the gunshot because of loud music in the home. Her role in supervising the youths, Reder said, was under investigation.

He said that after the shooting, the teens hoisted Wright out Hargrove's bedroom window and left him in the woods in the 35-degree weather, wearing a T-shirt and windbreaker pants.

"They just dragged him out in the woods and left him to die," Reder said.

Fraczek tried to keep that from happening. After his conversation with Hargrove, he rousted a nearby neighbor, 48-year-old James Spell. Using a flashlight, the two then found Wright, barely breathing and with his clothes half dragged off, and alerted the boyfriend of Hargrove's mother, who called 911.

"I kept thinking it was a kids' prank," Spell recalled of being awakened by Fraczek. He said his heart sank when he found Wright, knelt beside him and realized the teen was barely breathing.

As they walked past Hargrove's home at 5440 Trail Drive, Spell said, he could see the three teens peering out a window at him.

Later, as sheriff's deputies and emergency personnel arrived, he said, Hargrove walked up to Spell's girlfriend, Yeavette Love, and casually asked, "What's going on?"

When Love told him something had happened in the woods, Spell said, the youth knocked on the door to Spell's home, but Love's son, 16-year-old Jeff Love, refused to let him in.

"He said, "I don't know what you've done, but you're not coming into the house,' " Spell said.

At that point, deputies said, the youths fled to an abandoned house in a nearby orange grove, south of U.S. 92 and west of County Road 579.

They were found shortly before 4 a.m., Reder said, by K-9 deputies and the sheriff's helicopter.

Wright, meanwhile, had been flown to Tampa General Hospital, where grief-stricken family and friends lined the hallways and filled the waiting rooms Monday afternoon.

Friends described Wright, a 10th-grader at Armwood High, as a good-hearted teen who is close to his parents, Neal and Peggy Wright, and his 19-year-old brother, Jason.

An avid artist, Wright can mimic any design, said Mrs. Wright. He also enjoys football and was excited about the new bicycle he got for Christmas.

When asked if he was angry at the youths involved in the incident, Mr. Wright shook his head slowly, eyes downcast.

"I can't think about that right now," he said.

Neighbors described Hargrove, who had dropped out of high school, as a troubled youth who liked to ride his motorcycle late at night and play loud music.

"He was a good kid," said Spell, who has known Hargrove for years, "but lately, it seemed like he was missing something inside."

Hargrove's mother declined a reporter's request for an interview Monday afternoon.

Deputies charged Hargrove with attempted manslaughter, and Hiers and Walker with being an accessory after the fact. All three were being held Monday at a juvenile detention center in Tampa. Hiers' mother, Georgia Hiers, said her son, a 10th-grader at Armwood High, has never been in trouble with the law before. She said she was present early Monday while detectives interviewed her son.

"Andy said James was spinning the gun on his finger," Hiers recalled. "He never saw him shoot it. It just went off."

Afterward, she said, the youths shook Wright, telling him, "Get up, man." When he didn't, she said, the boys panicked, and Hargrove told the other two, "You're going down with me."

Her son had been friends with Hargrove for only a few months, Hiers said. As for Wright, she said through tears, "I feel so bad for his parents."

Timothy Walker, Billy Walker's father, echoed her thoughts.

"Our hearts right now are ripped apart for him," Walker said.

Walker said he and his wife had disapproved of their son's friendship with Hargrove and had tried in recent months to discourage it.

Although his son had never been in trouble before, Walker said, he had dropped out of high school, as Hargrove had.

The youths were not going to leave Wright to die, Walker said, but had intended to call 911 after leaving him in the woods.

"But the cops had already pulled up," he said. "That's when they got scared and took off for the orange grove."

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright