Tampa teenager charged with robbery, kidnapping

By Times staff writer

© St. Petersburg Times, published March 13, 2000

TAMPA -- A teenager was charged with armed robbery and kidnapping after police said he held up a Checkers restaurant Sunday morning on E Hillsborough Avenue.

Jamel H. Howell, 19, of 1724 E Fern caught restaurant manager Nicole Tooney by surprise as she was leaving the store about 2:20 a.m. Sunday, police said. Howell forced Tooney back inside at gunpoint and then forced three other employees into the freezer, police said.

Police responded to an alarm sounded by Tooney and surrounded the restaurant. Howell was captured as he fled out a window. His handgun and all the robbery money were recovered, police said. No one was injured.

Howell faces one count of armed robbery and four counts of armed kidnapping.

Clearwater man accused of shooting at 3 people

CLEARWATER -- A Clearwater man was charged early Sunday with shooting at three people.

Edwin Charles Leigh, 37, was charged with aggravated assault with a firearm and was held at the Pinellas County Jail on $50,000 bail. No one was injured in the shooting.

According to an arrest affidavit, Leigh, who lives at 513 Gilbert St. in Clearwater, pointed a handgun at three people who "were scared and ran," the report states. He fired two bullets at them, chased them for a quarter-mile and fired three more times. Evidence found at the scene indicated at least two rounds were fired, the report said.

En route to jail, Leigh said he would kill the victims before they could testify against him. The Clearwater Police Department was unable to locate the gun used in the incident.

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