Shooting is just the latest tragedy

The shooting of 12-year-old Lisa Erickson and its fallout are more terrible blows to families who are no strangers to tough times.

By LEANORA MINAI

© St. Petersburg Times, published November 19, 1999

ST. PETERSBURG -- At age 79, Marion McElhaney is raising a toddler and a teenager.

She's strong, she says, having survived the death of her mother, husband and son. But few things have hurt more than the shooting at her home Tuesday night.

"Yesterday, I cried all day," Mrs. McElhaney said Thursday.

Her 14-year-old granddaughter, Adina Semonelle, is in the Juvenile Detention Center for at least 21 days. She helped her boyfriend hide 12-year-old Lisa Erickson after the boyfriend shot Lisa in the face.

"I couldn't decide who I was crying for -- Lisa or my granddaughter," Mrs. McElhaney said.

The boyfriend, 18-year-old Brad L. Montgomery, is in the Pinellas County Jail without bail, charged with aggravated child abuse.

Lisa is in critical condition at All Children's Hospital, paralyzed from the neck down and breathing with help from a machine.

The tragic turn of events has highlighted a host of family problems and deepened the emotional trauma for all involved.

"I've been through so much s--- in my life, and I'm 33 years old," said Lisa's mother, Crystal Erickson, whose husband shot and killed himself in 1992. "And now my daughter?"

Mrs. McElhaney's family has had troubles of its own.

Her daughter, Linda Semonelle, 38, is being sought by authorities for violating probation after being convicted of selling cocaine last year. Mrs. McElhaney declined to talk about why she is raising her daughter's children, saying it's "nobody's business."

She said the last month has been tough with her oldest granddaughter. She recently learned she had been skipping class at Meadlowlawn Middle School.

"Mrs. McElhaney holds that family together from what I see," said Ann Cox, 58, one of Mrs. McElhaney's neighbors. "But you can hold things together for just so long."

Tuesday night began like many other school nights for Mrs. McElhaney's granddaughter, Adina Semonelle.

Her friend, Lisa, came over to spend the night. It would be her third night at the McElhaney home in a week. Montgomery also dropped by.

The three sat on the porch for a while, then moved to a bedroom.

The exact circumstances still are unclear, but at one point, Montgomery took out a .38-caliber handgun and pointed it at Lisa's head. Lisa tried to push the gun away, but it went off, firing a bullet through her nose.

Mrs. McElhaney, coaxing her 4-year-old granddaughter to sleep in a nearby room, heard a pop and opened the door. Told it was a firecracker, she went back to the 4-year-old.

Minutes later, she heard commotion and emerged from the bedroom to find that police had arrived.

"I had no idea," Mrs. McElhaney said. "They said there'd been a shooting here, but I couldn't believe it."

The house, at 3105 12th St. N, was swarming with officers. Montgomery and McElhaney's granddaughter were whisked away for questioning.

After the shooting, police said, Montgomery and Adina Semonelle carried the wounded and bleeding Lisa to the yard next door. They hid her near bushes to avoid getting in trouble.

Neighbors say Mrs. McElhaney is a nice woman doing her best with the children, but neighbors complain about loud music and teen gatherings at the house.

For the most part, Mrs. McElhaney said, teens would come over and sit outside on the deck, talk and listen to loud music, maybe even smoke a few cigarettes.

But, she said, they were polite and didn't drink.

"To me, they weren't out of control. They weren't doing anything bad," Mrs. McElhaney said. "They didn't destroy anything."

Until Tuesday night.

Over the last few days, Mrs. McElhaney said, she has grieved both for Lisa and her granddaughter. Lisa, she said, often called her grandma.

"I think the whole problem is kids don't have any place to go," she said. "Their parents kick them out and they have no where to go, and they get in trouble."

-- Leanora Minai can be reached at (727) 893-8406. Times researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.

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