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Partygoers Turn Tables In Robbery
By CANDACE J. SAMOLINSKI [email protected]
Published: Feb 27, 2006
TAMPA - A plan to rob partygoers ended with one suspect hogtied, another shot with a pistol the men brought for the job, and all four being arrested.
Judging by the bloody stains and handprints on the door to Apt. 108 in The Landings at Cypress Meadows, off North Dale Mabry Highway, clearly something bad happened there.
Outside, blood-stained socks and bandages lay in wads, apparently discarded in a hurry. The concrete was littered with shards of green glass from broken beer bottles and crumpled yellow crime-scene tape left behind by Hillsborough County sheriff's investigators.
It's what happened inside that might serve as a lesson to would-be robbers, sheriff's officials said.
Neighbors said the apartment sat vacant for months before three young men in their 20s moved in about three weeks ago. They soon made a habit of throwing parties, so it seemed routine when one started up Saturday night.
Neighbors didn't expect to return home to a complex crawling with deputies.
The party was in full swing about 9:40 p.m. when Gregory Davis, Ladarius Hudson and Laroy Sims, all 18, and Joshua Franklin, 15, walked in. They soon made it clear they weren't there for the beer.
One man brandished a pistol, and they all demanded the partygoers' valuables and cash. Guests emptied their pockets. Things were going as planned until some of the guests fought back, sheriff's spokesman J.D. Callaway said.
"They struggled, and the gun went off," he said. "It grazed Laroy Sims' hand."
Sensing they had the upper hand, some of the partygoers grabbed Davis and hogtied his 5-foot-8, 195-pound frame with speaker wire, Callaway said.
"They tied him up and pummeled him until deputies got there," he said.
Sims, Franklin and Hudson ran out the front door and tossed the pistol into the woods behind the apartment. A deputy later found it. The three ran to a waiting car and planned to leave, Callaway said.
"When they got to the car, they realized Gregory Davis had the keys," (Doh!! :banghead: ) he said. "That's when we got there and everybody was put in handcuffs."
Paramedics treated Sims' gunshot wound at the scene and deputies untied Davis, Callaway said. The four were then arrested.
Davis, of 8726 N. Tampa St.; Sims, of 9701 N. 46th St.; and Hudson, of 10221 N. Ninevah Road, each face 10 counts of home invasion robbery and aggravated assault with a firearm. They were held without bail in the Orient Road Jail. Franklin faces 10 counts of home invasion robbery.
By CANDACE J. SAMOLINSKI [email protected]
Published: Feb 27, 2006
TAMPA - A plan to rob partygoers ended with one suspect hogtied, another shot with a pistol the men brought for the job, and all four being arrested.
Judging by the bloody stains and handprints on the door to Apt. 108 in The Landings at Cypress Meadows, off North Dale Mabry Highway, clearly something bad happened there.
Outside, blood-stained socks and bandages lay in wads, apparently discarded in a hurry. The concrete was littered with shards of green glass from broken beer bottles and crumpled yellow crime-scene tape left behind by Hillsborough County sheriff's investigators.
It's what happened inside that might serve as a lesson to would-be robbers, sheriff's officials said.
Neighbors said the apartment sat vacant for months before three young men in their 20s moved in about three weeks ago. They soon made a habit of throwing parties, so it seemed routine when one started up Saturday night.
Neighbors didn't expect to return home to a complex crawling with deputies.
The party was in full swing about 9:40 p.m. when Gregory Davis, Ladarius Hudson and Laroy Sims, all 18, and Joshua Franklin, 15, walked in. They soon made it clear they weren't there for the beer.
One man brandished a pistol, and they all demanded the partygoers' valuables and cash. Guests emptied their pockets. Things were going as planned until some of the guests fought back, sheriff's spokesman J.D. Callaway said.
"They struggled, and the gun went off," he said. "It grazed Laroy Sims' hand."
Sensing they had the upper hand, some of the partygoers grabbed Davis and hogtied his 5-foot-8, 195-pound frame with speaker wire, Callaway said.
"They tied him up and pummeled him until deputies got there," he said.
Sims, Franklin and Hudson ran out the front door and tossed the pistol into the woods behind the apartment. A deputy later found it. The three ran to a waiting car and planned to leave, Callaway said.
"When they got to the car, they realized Gregory Davis had the keys," (Doh!! :banghead: ) he said. "That's when we got there and everybody was put in handcuffs."
Paramedics treated Sims' gunshot wound at the scene and deputies untied Davis, Callaway said. The four were then arrested.
Davis, of 8726 N. Tampa St.; Sims, of 9701 N. 46th St.; and Hudson, of 10221 N. Ninevah Road, each face 10 counts of home invasion robbery and aggravated assault with a firearm. They were held without bail in the Orient Road Jail. Franklin faces 10 counts of home invasion robbery.
