Murder suspect found in closet

Calls from the community lead authorities to a house, where they find their 18-year-old suspect.

By ANGELA MOORE

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 8, 2000

TAMPA -- Since Monday, when a convenience store owner was shot and killed in a brazen midday robbery, detectives have been working day and night to catch the suspect in the killing.

But it was the calls from the community that finally led police to a house on 1009 E 15th Ave. Thursday night, where they found their suspect cowering under a pile of clothes in a bedroom closet, police spokesman Joe Durkin said.

Police arrested Derek T. Holmes, an 18-year-old with a lengthy arrest record and the street name "O.D.," charging him with first-degree murder and armed robbery.

They said he was the youth wearing the white bandana and the camouflage pants who robbed the Columbus Food Mart and shot Muhammad Naeem Akhtar, a 37-year-old Pakistani immigrant with a wife and three children.

Immediately after the shooting, witnesses in the neighborhood just north of Ybor City told police the man they saw running from the store on Columbus and Republica de Cuba avenues was a kid they knew as "O.D."

Because Holmes had no current address and plenty of places to hide, he was able to elude arrest for several days.

Police held a press conference Wednesday to ask the public's help in finding him. They caught up with him Thursday thanks to a tip that he was staying at the home of a female friend.

Homicide detectives and officers surrounded the house shortly before 7 p.m. while a police helicopter hovered above. After finding Holmes in the closet, he was arrested without incident, Durkin said, and taken to police headquarters for questioning.

"He admitted that he did shoot and kill Mr. Akhtar," Durkin said. "He entered the store and fires a round immediately into the ceiling and then demands money. During the robbery, he said the owner got into a struggle with him. In the course of the struggle, he shot and killed Mr. Akhtar."

Durkin said that although the shooting was a result of a struggle, it was not an accident.

"How the struggle started is not really clear," Durkin said. "But I do know that Derek Holmes walked in there to commit a violent robbery, and he fired a shot into the air to show them that."

Durkin said police had found a handgun they think was used to shoot Akhtar but will perform tests to make sure. The gun was found at another location, not at the house where Holmes hid. The store's surveillance video, which Holmes took on his way out, still hasn't been found, Durkin said.

After 21/2 hours of interviews, officers led a sullen Holmes to a squad car past a swarm of television cameras and reporters. Reporters shouted questions while Holmes squinted against the flashes and muttered, "Get those damn cameras out of my face."

Police took him to jail, where he was held without bail.

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