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Woman shot at salon door diesBy MIKE BRASSFIELD © St. Petersburg Times, published April 29, 2001 ST. PETERSBURG -- Six weeks ago, Claudia Eanes was shot in the head while locking up the tanning salon where she worked. The bullet lodged in her brain. Eanes clung to life at Bayfront Medical Center as her family clung to hope -- until Friday, when relatives decided to take her off life support. Eanes, a 34-year-old mother of three, died Friday night. Police have made no arrests in the shooting and are now investigating it as a homicide. Eanes was shot March 14 outside Tanny-Fanny at 6480 Central Ave. as she was leaving the business about 9:30 p.m. Eanes often brought her children to work and was walking out with her daughter, 5, and son, 11. A co-worker with them heard a noise, turned around and saw Eanes fall to the ground near the front door. Other than a bullet hole in the glass door, no one saw anything suspicious outside the business after the shooting, detectives said. Police are not ruling out the possibility that someone with a rifle shot Eanes from a distance. Detectives also don't think robbery was a motive. Eanes' family, including her husband, Eric Eanes, could not be reached Saturday. "I feel so many emotions for this wonderful girl that I've known for 10 months," said Suzann Rogers, owner of Tanny-Fanny. "I feel so much for her family and her children. I'm heartbroken." Claudia Eanes was well-liked by her clients and was described as having a "heart of gold," but she had had troubles with her relationships. She recently gained custody of her son from her first marriage. She and her second husband had financial difficulties. She moved to Kentucky to live with a boyfriend, John Brockway, for several months last year, then came back to St. Petersburg, where she had been living at Sunshine City Mobile Home Park. Detectives have reviewed Eanes' relationships with her first and second husbands. They also interviewed Brockway. Investigators have considered the possibility that Eanes was mistaken for someone else when she was shot. Eanes resembles Rogers, the tanning salon's owner, said friends of both women.
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