Posted on 06/30/2013 5:40:16 AM PDT by rarestia
The motorist killed in a shooting that closed eastbound Interstate 4 in Tampa for nearly eight hours Saturday has been identified as a 47-year-old Orlando man.
Fred William Turner Jr. was fatally shot while he was on a cell phone telling a 911 dispatcher someone with a gun was pursuing him, authorities said.
The shooting happened around 3 p.m. and prompted authorities to close I-4 at I-75 while they examined the scene and searched for clues. The closure eventually stretched west to U.S. 301 and didn't end until nearly 11 p.m.
Turner, who was driving a newer model Ford Mustang, told the dispatcher he was being followed by a man with a gun in the area of North 50th Street and East Columbus Drive. The pursuer drove a gray Ford Taurus with tinted windows, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office said.
Turner told the dispatcher that before the man had started following him, he had pulled up next to him, rolled down a window and brandished a semi-automatic handgun. He didn't know the man or why he started following him.
Turner stayed on the phone with the dispatcher while he drove onto I-4 and headed east toward Orlando. As he approached the I-75 overpass, shots rang out and Turner was hit, authorities said.
Turner pulled his car over and died at the scene, deputies said.
Three law enforcement agencies - the sheriff's office, Tampa police and the Florida Highway Patrol - participated in the investigation Saturday. Authorities are asking that anyone who has relevant information call Crime Stoppers of Tampa Bay at 1-800-873-8377.
This will come out as being a black-on-white crime, the media will stop covering it, but it should send a chill down everyone's spine that evil people will continue in their evil regardless of the force of good.
I live in Tampa heard about this but really didn’t follow it..Thanks for posting
Harbinger of things to come.
The eyes of the nation are on Sanford.
The Bride and I were out in that. We were in a warehouse shopping place when the shooting went down.
We got back under cover before the traffic snarled.
I actually work literally a hundred yards away for that intersection...
Seems like a hotbed of criminal activity occurs around that area...even though it's not residential...
Two police officers was shot and killed near there a few years ago...
I take your point but for the record I never gave them credit for intelligence.
Death is a serious business but an eight hour closure of one of the busiest Interstates in the nation is ludicrous. I call it the CSI effect where common sense yields to all the police busybodies fancying themselves Dr Gil Grissom with unique insight that will solve the crime.
Even more ludicrous is a multiple-hour closure for garden variety accidents.
For me, it’s another illustration that ‘public servants’ are oblivious to the private sector commerce that ultimately pays their salaries.
Thankful you are both okay and have good instincts.
I’m curious as to what happened before the Taurus pulled up beside the Mustang and flashed the weapon. Had there been any driver interaction before that? Some sort of aggressive driving by one or both of the drivers?
Even more ludicrous is a multiple-hour closure for garden variety accidents.
For me, it’s another illustration that ‘public servants’ are oblivious to the private sector commerce that ultimately pays their salaries.
Maybe so, maybe no.
Pistol spitting out brass over maybe several hundred yards...
I expect that the cops wanted every single piece of brass.
According to local contacts, that is a BAD place to be at any time day or night.
Seminole Heights and College Hill have burned in the past from copycat riots. I have absolutely no doubt that they will burn again, when “The Verdict” is announced.
It’s the riot before the post-Zimmerman verdict riot.
“He didn’t know the man or why he started following him.”
Duh....slavery.
50th Street and Columbus is sort of on the outskirts of some unsavory parts of Tampa. I used to work out there in the industrial parks, but I made swift ingress and egress, never put my windows down, and I would never go there after dark.
I’m guessing the driver was either taking surface streets to get to the interstate (there’s a ramp to I4 right at 50th and Columbus) or had gotten off to get gas. This is not an area known for heavy drug activity due to its proximity to the interstate, but there are a lot of vagrants in the area.
Fair enough. Considering every black glove hotdog on the force showed up with lights twinkling how long should it take them all?
I was raised in Tampa and that has always been a bad area, even when was county.
Seminole Heights is about 5 miles northwest from 50th and Columbus. College Hill is about 3 miles to the west.
I do not, however, disagree with your assessment on the area. This part of Tampa is rife with gangbangers and vagrants.
Officers Jeffrey Kocab and David Curtis were killed less than a mile north of 50th and Columbus on 29 June 2010.
In any situation, the first one to call 9-1-1 is the victim.
To all you folks familiar with the area thanks for your information.
Thanks for the geography lesson... I can almost picture it on my mind. It’s scary to think someone from out of town could take an exit... and become a target just because they were unfamiliar with the area.
Maybe there wasn’t time, but I wonder why the dispatcher didn’t help direct the man to a location where a police cruiser might be in a good position to intercept.
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