 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Week in ReviewBy Compiled by Times staff writer © St. Petersburg Times, published October 22, 2000 COUNTRYWAY WIDOW SUES AFTER SHOOTING: The widow of a Countryway man shot to death after breaking up a neighborhood fight among children has sued the man charged with the killing and two others. Nora Carroll Wells, 38, filed the wrongful death lawsuit Tuesday in Hillsborough Circuit Court. It seeks compensatory and punitive damages from Randolph Puryear, the 40-year-old dentist charged with second-degree murder, Puryear's girlfriend, 37-year-old Sherri Toney, and Brian A. Pieniazek Jr., a friend of Puryear's who authorities say was at the confrontation. According to sheriff's officials, Toney confronted Jamele Wells Sept. 10 at his home on Fox Creek Drive after Wells, who is black, broke up a fight involving Toney's 12-year-old son. Deputies said Toney, who is white, used a racial slur. She called her boyfriend, Puryear, and told him Wells had attacked her, a claim neighbors dispute. Puryear drove to Wells' house, shouted racial obscenities and waved a handgun, deputies said. With Pieniazek following, Puryear attacked Wells, deputies said. Authorities say the gun went off, wounding Wells fatally in the abdomen. MAN SUES OVER STRIP CLUB: Keith Johnson's plans for a $1.5-million adult cabaret next to his adult bookstore on E Fowler Avenue have been stymied by an invisible line that cuts his 1.32-acre site in half. The city-county border makes it impossible for Johnson to gain full approval for the parking permit he needs. In a lawsuit filed in Tampa federal court, Johnson challenges a provision in the county's adult use ordinance requiring a 2,000-foot setback from residential property; before 1986, the setback requirement was just 500 feet. Just north of Johnson's property are one-story apartments separated from the proposed adult cabaret by woods, a high fence topped by barbed wire and a parking lot. In 1998, the city approved a 960-square-foot Xtreme Adult Books and Videos store at 1210-1212 E Fowler Ave. Eight months later, county officials approved plans for a bar on the county side of the property, since state alcohol laws would prohibit nudity there. In August 1999, Johnson tried to expand the Xtreme store into a 3,780-square-foot adult cabaret. The city requires 41 parking spaces for the cabaret, where there is now room for just 20. Johnson wanted the needed 21 spaces to be "borrowed" from the county side, where spaces now exceed county requirements by 33. The county said no. CHASE SPILLS INTO MALL: A routine traffic check took a wild turn Monday when three teens in a stolen car tried to run down a deputy, were shot at in return, then sped to a mall, officials say. After a brief foot chase through University Mall, deputies caught two of the teenagers. An off-duty state trooper working security at Dillard's tackled the third as he ran past the men's department. Two of the suspects suffered gunshot wounds. The deputy who fired the shots was not injured, and no other cars were hit during the chase to the mall. "It was a short chase, not more than a minute," said Hillsborough sheriff's Col. David Gee, who said the incident was under investigation. Sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter said the driver of the stolen 2001 Buick Century, 16-year-old Gebraille Shanks, was shot in the upper body and was flown to Tampa General Hospital. A passenger in the Buick, 19-year-old Lavaron Robinson, was not injured, Carter said. A second passenger, 16-year-old Javario Barron, was hit by fragments, treated at University Community Hospital and released. Carter said the day's events unfolded as follows: Sheriff's deputies were conducting a midday traffic checkpoint at E 138th Avenue and N 22nd Street when the stolen Buick, with an expired tag, turned away. Deputy Oneal Jackson, followed the car to a duplex at 13715 E 138th Ave., where he got out of his car. At that point the teens in the Buick rammed the deputy's car several times, narrowly missing him. Jackson fired several shots into the Buick, which then fled south on 22nd Street toward the rear of the mall. The teenagers then jumped from their car on the mall's east side, near the Sears Garden Center, and left the car running. It careened into the parking lot and a passer-by brought it to a stop. Shanks and Barron were caught in Sears. Robinson was briefly chased through Montgomery Ward, witnesses said. Authorities said Lief Cardwell, a four-year veteran of the Florida Highway Patrol, saw Robinson as he was chased by a deputy in Dillard's. He tackled Robinson, who ultimately was subdued with pepper spray. Deputies charged Shanks with attempted murder of a law enforcement officer, grand theft auto, fleeing and eluding and having an expired tag. Barron was charged with grand theft auto, giving a false name to law enforcement, resisting arrest with violence, battery on an officer, and outstanding warrant charges including grand theft and battery. Robinson was charged with trespass in a conveyance, resisting arrest with violence and a warrant charge of resisting arrest without violence and failing to pay child support.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 
|
From the Times |
