Victim of highway shooting identified

By Times staff writers

© St. Petersburg Times, published May 14, 2000

TAMPA -- Police have identified a man shot to death Friday night after an argument with a passenger in another car.

Michael L. Sanders, 37, of St. Petersburg, was shot by a passenger in a car that had been bumping the rear of the car Sanders was riding in on Memorial Highway.

The two cars pulled over about 10 p.m., the men argued and one pulled a gun. Sanders' body was found in woods a short distance from his car. Sanders' wife, who was driving the car, ran after the man pulled the gun. She was not injured.

Man dies in mobile home fire

TAMPA -- Firefighters called to a mobile home fire near Brandon early Saturday morning found the body of a 42-year-old man on a couch inside.

Neighbors of Lot 6 in the Hilltop Mobile Home Park at 9915 U.S. 92 E heard a popping sound, discovered the fire and reported it about 12:30 a.m., said sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter.

Investigators from the state Fire Marshal's Office determined the fire started accidentally, but did not say how it started.

The identity of the man killed was not released Saturday.

As he lit a cigarette the coin laundry exploded

DUNEDIN -- A Dunedin man was hospitalized Saturday after he lit a cigarette, which caused an explosion that damaged several stores at a strip mall, authorities said.

Earnest W. Kennett was stepping outside a coin laundry at the Caladesi Plaza shopping center, 2674 Bayshore Blvd., at about 12:30 a.m. when he "ignited the explosion from a possible propane leak generated from the dryers," said Pinellas sheriff's Deputy Cal Dennie. The explosion shattered several windows at the Sunshine Laundrymate and caused heavy smoke damage to several other businesses, authorities said.

Kennett, 37, was not seriously injured, authorities said.

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