The week in review

By Times staff writer

© St. Petersburg Times,
published July 22, 2001

STATE BENEFITS GO TO MARRERO'S PARTNER -- As city officials continued to debate survival benefits for same-sex partners, the state sent $25,000 to the partner of Tampa police Officer Lois Marrero, who was shot dead by a bank robber two weeks ago. The money for Tampa police Detective Mickie Mashburn, the Fawn Ridge woman who had been Marrero's companion for 10 years, came from the state's crime victims compensation fund and was approved by Attorney General Bob Butterworth, guardian of the fund.

The fund provides payments for the deceased victim's spouse, children or "another person dependent on their income," said Rodney Doss, director of the Division of Victims' Services for Butterworth's office. Doss said the payment to Mashburn was not to make a statement, but merely follows the guidelines under which money is dispersed to homicide victims' families.

The payment was revealed hours after the Tampa City Council unanimously voted to review the city's benefits policies amid controversy over the Marrero-Mashburn situation. Under the current policy, gay city employees are not entitled to their partner's pension benefits.

In a unanimous vote Thursday, the council approved the formation of a committee to research the city's pension policies. In addition, council member Linda Saul-Sena asked that the committee review life insurance, health insurance and leave to care for ill household members as well.

SECRET SERVICE HELPS KEEP SCHOOLS SAFE -- About 500 school administrators, guidance counselors and resource officers from central Florida came to Gaither High School on Tuesday to hear a five-hour presentation on school safety crafted by the Secret Service and the U.S. Department of Education.

"We don't pretend to have all the answers, but we have some ideas," said Randy Borum, a psychology professor at the University of South Florida and a member of the Secret Service's National Threat Assessment Center.

Several years ago, the Secret Service studied all the people in the past 50 years who targeted or attacked a public figure or celebrity. That project helped improve the agency's approach to identifying threats.

The service also did a similar study to learn more about the patterns of planning, thinking and behavior that preceded school shootings. In essence, the Secret Service applied everything it knew about protecting presidents to protecting schoolchildren and teachers.

Borum said the "Safe School Initiative" report uses "the same approach we used to study assassination behavior."

Staffers from the National Threat Assessment Center studied 37 school shootings -- involving 41 attackers -- that occurred since 1974. Information focused on each attacker's development of a plan, target selection, motivation and communication about his ideas.The center gathered information on how weapons were obtained as well as the attacker's demographic and background information.

Researchers determined that one trait common to student killers is that they were all boys. Another finding: Students don't "just snap."

The Secret Service study resulted in six major findings about what drives such attacks:

The attacks are not impulsive, spontaneous or random. "These kids do not just snap," Borum said.

Attackers often tell at least one person, and usually more, about the plan. "Kids tell other people, and typically it's other kids," Borum said.

There is no accurate or useful profile of a school shooter.

Incidents are frequently over before law enforcement arrives.

Most attackers act out in some manner before the actual violent outburst, usually raising cause for concern.

Bullying played a key role in more than two-thirds of the cases.

BANK ROBBERY IN CARROLLWOOD -- A masked man robbed a Carrollwood bank at gunpoint just before noon on Tuesday. No one was hurt during the robbery of the Mercantile Bank at 10821 N Dale Mabry Highway. But authorities said the man, captured on a surveillance camera, pointed a large revolver at the heads of several bank employees. No customers were in the bank during the robbery.

Lt. Rod Reder, a spokesman for the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, called it a classic "take-over" robbery.

"He was very profane and very aggressive," Reder said. "We had to call Fire Rescue to check some blood pressure and pulses. They were very shook up."

Reder said the robber walked into the bank at 11:24 a.m. and ordered the seven bank employees to the floor. He was given an undisclosed amount of money and fled in a silver Kia four-door sedan.

PURSES STOLEN AT CITRUS MALL -- A couple accused of trying to snatch purses Sunday at Citrus Park Plaza were caught after leading Hillsborough County sheriff's deputies on a short car chase. The man and teenage girl fled on foot after abandoning their stolen vehicle at Bearss Avenue and Interstate 275 but were caught by deputies, the Sheriff's Office said.

Akbar Jackson, 23, was charged with two counts of robbery, grand theft, petty theft, resisting arrest, driving without a valid driver's license and aggravated fleeing and eluding. He was released after posting $16,350 bail. Jackson's 16-year-old accomplice was charged with two counts of robbery, petty theft and resisting arrest without violence. She was sent to the juvenile assessment center.

The victims -- Amada Morris, 39, of Carrollwood and Marie Fontana, 49, of Odessa -- were not injured.

Deputies said Morris was attacked about 1:10 p.m. as the couple passed by in a Plymouth van they allegedly stole from the parking lot. Jackson reached out for Morris' purse, but the strap broke and they fled without it. Later they stole Fontana's purse off her shoulder, deputies said. Deputies arrested the suspects about five minutes later.

HAIRE WANTS CASH TAKEN IN RAID RETURNED -- A friend and neighbor of convicted felon Paul Bilzerian is demanding the FBI return the $69,060 it took from his home in a June 11 raid. Ford dealer Ernest B. Haire III has asked the U.S. District Court in Tampa to make the FBI return the funds, which were taken from a safe. His motion, filed Wednesday, said the government has no proof the cash is connected to Bilzerian.

Both men's Avila homes were searched the morning of June 11 as part of an apparent criminal investigation into Bilzerian, an ex-corporate raider who served prison time in the early 1990s and is back again on a contempt-of-court charge. Most other items seized from Haire's home, including documents and two rifles, already have been given back.

"They're trying to intimidate anyone and everyone who has an association with Paul Bilzerian," said Haire's attorney, Christopher Kise. "They want Paul Bilzerian."

Haire and Bilzerian are more than neighbors in Tampa's exclusive Avila neighborhood. Haire is a trustee of a 1994 trust that Bilzerian and his wife, Terri Steffen, set up for their two children. Until recently, he also held about 600,000 shares of stock in Cimetrix Inc., a Salt Lake City company Bilzerian headed until entering prison in January.

As part of a move to freeze the Bilzerian family assets, the Securities and Exchange Commission seized the shares held by Haire last month. It also took Cimetrix shares held by other Bilzerian family-related entities, including one called the Loving Spirit Foundation.

Haire declined to be interviewed last week, but said previously that he became friendly with the Bilzerians in the late 1980s. "I feel that the SEC and the government have been after Paul for many, many years," he said. "When the government wants someone, no rock will be unturned."

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