Gunman, victim dispute shooting

The gunman told authorities that he fired a shot in self-defense, while the victim said he was shot after asking the gunman what his problem was.

By JAMIE MALERNEE

© St. Petersburg Times, published February 20, 2001

BROOKSVILLE -- A shooting left one man injured and put another behind bars Monday.

Stephen L. Hasberry, 24, of 404 E Summit Road in Brooksville was arrested and faces charges of aggravated battery with a firearm after he shot another man in the shoulder Sunday, authorities said.

Hasberry told investigators he was acting in self-defense when, while driving on Twigg Street near Martin Luther King Boulevard just outside of Brooksville, another car cut him off and a group of people walked toward him. He had heard earlier in the day that an ex-girlfriend was going to have him beaten up, he told officials, and so he became frightened.

Trying to scare off a potential attacker who was reaching for a gun, he pulled out his own .22-caliber revolver and shot into the air, Hasberry said, according to a Hernando County sheriff's report.

But the shot did not go into the air. It lodged into the shoulder blade of Leonard L. Sampson, 31, of 269 A St. in Brooksville. And Sampson told police a different story.

Sampson, who was taken to Tampa General Hospital with non-life threatening injuries, said Hasberry had been harassing Sampson's girlfriend, so when he saw him on Twigg Street, he went to confront him. Sampson asked what Hasberry's problem was, and that's when Hasberry pulled out the gun and shot him, the report said.

Hasberry, who has no prior criminal record and works as a groundskeeper for the Hernando County School Board, was released from the Hernando County Jail on Monday on $10,000 bail.

Sampson remained at Tampa General on Monday evening in stable condition.

In January, he was charged with the robbery of a SunTrust Bank on Broad Street. Records indicate that in September he was charged with fleeing and eluding deputies during a chase, possessing counterfeit license plates and a traffic violation. That case is pending.

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