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By MIKE BRASSFIELD
© St. Petersburg Times, published February 3, 2001
ST. PETERSBURG -- The city's first homicide of the year was committed by a drug dealer who shot a man he thought had stolen some of his crack cocaine, police said Friday.
Detectives arrested Quinton L. Hubbard, 22, on Friday and charged him with first-degree murder in the Jan. 11 killing of Nathaniel A. Stone, 33.
Stone was shot several times in the back and legs about 8 a.m. in front of 991 Melrose Ave. S after Hubbard confronted him in an alley, police said.
Police said Hubbard thought Stone had stolen drugs from him. Police said Hubbard found Stone that morning and shot him with a .22-caliber handgun as Stone was running away.
Stone, who lived at 3135 20th St. N, was a onetime Northeast High School basketball and football player who was engaged to be married on Valentine's Day.
Pinellas court records show that both men had run-ins with the law.
Stone had been convicted of armed robbery, battery, domestic violence and drug possession, though the drug charges were more than five years old.
Hubbard, of 1105 24th Way S, is on probation after pleading guilty two weeks ago to selling crack cocaine. He previously had been arrested on cocaine, marijuana and drug paraphernalia charges.
He was being held without bail Friday in the Pinellas County Jail.