Police nab second man in store owner's killing

By LINDA GIBSON

© St. Petersburg Times, published January 13, 2001

TAMPA -- Police on the lookout for a man wanted in the New Year's Eve slaying of a convenience store owner followed the suspect into a kindergarten Friday afternoon and arrested him without incident.

Robert Bellamy Miller, 25, was captured at Meacham Early Childhood Center at about 1:15 p.m. after asking to speak to a friend who worked there.

He was not armed, and most students were not aware of the commotion until after his arrest.

Miller faces a first-degree murder charge in the shooting death of 40-year-old convenience store owner Sissay Belete at his Rainbow Food Place on N 43rd Street. A man police said was an accomplice, 20-year-old Jewel Atkins III, was charged Thursday with first-degree murder and robbery.

Police had searched for Miller for more than a week after a surveillance video at the store captured one of the robbers without his ski mask and a tip identified the man as Miller.

Friday, an anonymous caller told police where they might find Miller, and dozens of deputies and Tampa police officers in patrol cars and helicopters were sent to the area around 34th Avenue and 26th Street.

At 12:45 p.m., Miller was seen driving a stolen Mitsubishi and the officers followed, said sheriff's Maj. Gary Terry. For 30 minutes, Miller drove the speed limit along streets north of Hillsborough Avenue and then south to Ybor City.

About 1:15 p.m., he stopped the car in front of Meacham Early Childhood Center in the 1200 block of W India Street. He ran through the front door, up to a prekindergarten classroom on the second floor and spoke briefly through the locked classroom door to the teacher, said school district spokesman Mark Hart.

"He was looking for an acquaintance he had in the school," Terry said. "He was seeking aid."

After talking through the door, Miller ran back downstairs and encountered two detectives, who placed him under arrest. Nobody was injured during the chase or arrest, Terry said.

Students leaving for the day at 2:15 p.m. learned of the arrest when encountering a glut of police cars and television news trucks.

About 250 students, from infants in the nursery to kindergarteners, were in their classrooms when Miller was arrested. Unsure if another man had accompanied Miller, deputies locked the building and searched, finding nothing.

Classroom doors at Meacham typically are kept locked during the school day, Hart said. So are all entrances and exits to the school except the front doors on India Street. Miller's entrance, he said, is likely to trigger a review of the school's security policies.

Miller can expect more charges to be filed. Before the shooting New Year's Eve, he had been wanted on seven warrants for violation of probation and failing to appear in court.

Belete, an immigrant from Ethiopia, is survived by three children under the age of 5 and by his wife, who does not speak English.

- Linda Gibson can be reached at (813) 226-3382 or gibson@sptimes.com.

© 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