The week in review

NEAR MISS FOR OFF-DUTY OFFICER -- As a robber held a gun to Luis Vasquez's head, all Vasquez could think of was his wife and two children sitting in the family's Ford just a few short feet away.

Vasquez, an off-duty Tampa police officer, struggled with the man in the gas station parking lot at Bearss Avenue near Interstate-275. He grabbed for the gun, and it fired. The bullet hit Vasquez in the shoulder. The robber ran off.

"It was the scariest thing that ever happened to me," said Beth Vasquez, who saw the attack and dialed 911. The children slept through it all.

The shooting happened about 1:30 a.m. Wednesday as the family was setting off for a two-week ski vacation in North Carolina. They had decided to travel at night so their 9-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter could sleep in the back of the SUV. They stopped for gas at the Citgo station.

Mrs. Vasquez and the kids stayed inside the SUV while Vasquez, a 13-year police department veteran, gassed up the car. As he did, a man walked up and pulled a gun, telling him that it was a robbery.

Vasquez, 35, was released from the hospital Wednesday, with the bullet still lodged in his shoulder.

The suspect was described as a black male, in his late 20s, 5-feet-10, weighing 180 pounds with a short Afro, wearing dark clothing with orange writing. Sheriff's deputies asked anyone with information to call 1-800-873-8477.

ODESSA MAN CHARGED WITH CHILD PORN -- A 20-year-old Odessa man was arrested Thursday on 43 counts of child pornography and is being held on $215,000 bail, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office said.

The arrest of Charles Cole of 15712 Indian Queen Drive followed a monthlong investigation stemming from his attempt to meet a Polk County teenage girl he had contacted over the Internet, police said.

"When this little 14-year-old went to meet him, she got scared when he showed up," said Lt. Rod Reder, Hillsborough sheriff's spokesman. "She ran to a nearby church and they called the (Polk County) Sheriff's Office."

Hillsborough, which received the case because Cole lives in Odessa, began an investigation that resulted in a search of his house. When investigators examined Cole's computer they found 43 pornographic images of underage girls, each one resulting in a separate charge.

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright