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Tensions High After Tampa Police Fatally Shoot Teen
Tampa Tribune ^ | July 23, 2012 | Staff

Posted on 07/23/2012 12:34:21 PM PDT by Iron Munro

Members of a local Black Panther group are planning a protest today after Tampa police shot and killed an armed teenager Sunday night in a Tampa Heights apartment complex.

The St. Petersburg/Tampa New Black Panther Party says it expects 200 protesters to attend a rally at 9 a.m. at the Tampa Police Department headquarters on North 22nd Street.

The protest is in response to the shooting death of Javon Neal, 16, who police say ran from police up a stairwell then whirled around brandishing a pistol grip, pump-action shotgun before police shot him.

The shooting ignited anger among the apartment complex residents and neighbors, and scores of people milled about Columbus Drive in front of the Central Court Apartments, at 2510 Central Ave., cat-calling police and nearly disrupting a news conference Sunday night.

Neal lived in the complex and was taken to St. Joseph's Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, said Tampa police spokeswoman Laura McElroy.

A man was shot at the complex about 4 p.m. and taken to the hospital, but police were still trying to determine if Neal had any connection to that shooting, McElroy said.

When police got a call of another shooting in progress at 7:21 p.m., two officers with a special unit that focuses on violent offenders responded.

The officers spotted someone who matched the description given in the 911 call and followed him to the south side of the complex, yelling for him to stop, McElroy said. But Neal kept going and ran up the three flights on an outside staircase, stopped on the third-floor landing and began pulling something out of his pant leg, she said.

The officers reached the third floor when Neal turned around, holding the shotgun in his hands.

"There was no doubt he was armed with a very dangerous weapon," McElroy said.

The gunman didn't fire, but police did. Neal was hit at least once, but McElroy didn't know how many shots the officers fired.

McElroy identified the officers as Gregory Pryor, 36, who has been with the department for five years, and Shannon Murphy, 35, a nine-year veteran of the force.

Both have been placed on administrative leave with pay until the investigation is completed, which is standard operating procedure.

Neither officer was injured.

When the officers showed up Sunday evening to investigate the shooting, there was a large birthday party going on in the apartment complex's courtyard, said Robert Fulton, who said he saw Neal get shot and that he knew the teen.

Fulton said the officers fired on the teen too quickly and disputed the police department's account that Neal was armed.

"I saw the young man," Fulton said. "He had a hoodie on, and he reached into his pocket for something, and the police fired."

The officers fired numerous times from about 10 feet away, Fulton said.

"They acted too quickly," he said.

McElroy held a news conference on Columbus Drive, around 8:30 p.m. while police cruisers with lights on lined the brick street from Jefferson Street almost to Central Avenue, splashing the street's modest older homes with blue and red strobes. A crowd gathered behind the news reporters and shouted over McElroy when she gave the police's version of what happened.

"That's a lie," yelled one woman, when McElroy said the teen was armed.

"God saw what happened," another woman shouted, "and I bet he is going to get justice."

By 10 p.m., the crowd had begun to disperse, and police began pulling down the yellow crime scene tape.

But the issue is not over, said Ali Muhammad, with the New Black Panther Party. He called for a rally in front of police headquarters in Tampa this morning, protesting police violence and excessive use of force.

Sunday night, Muhammad urged peace on Columbus Avenue.

"We are offering support for the community, and to make sure everything stays calm, cool and collected," he said. "There are a lot of people out here who are outraged about this."

McElroy said the shooting was not racial, that officers were doing their jobs in detaining a suspect in a shooting. Neal is black and McElroy said one of the officers is black.

"Race did not play into the equation," she said.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Front Page News; News/Current Events; US: Florida
KEYWORDS: blackpanthers; fl; florida; leo; police; shooting; tampa
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To: HIDEK6

He had a hoodie on...
... because it gets really cold in Tampa, Florida in July.””””

at 4 PM.


61 posted on 07/23/2012 2:30:12 PM PDT by ridesthemiles
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To: HIDEK6

We’ve had some rain lately in Tampa Bay area but the LOW is 78 degrees plus with afternoon temps in the low 90s with 75%+ humidity.

Its hot and humid - a hoodie is ridiculous unless its for disguise or stashing your weapon or five-finger discount shopping items.

I think the NBB knows if they get uppity there will be hell to pay around here but we shall see especially if GZ has his charges dismissed.


62 posted on 07/23/2012 2:52:43 PM PDT by Tunehead54 (Nothing funny here ;-)
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To: Iron Munro

OMG!! He’s got a gold girl, just like St. Trayvon of the Skittles. Gold grills and hoodies don’t mix well with hot lead.


63 posted on 07/23/2012 2:59:38 PM PDT by libstripper
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To: dfwgator

Lack of apologies to Sir Elton duly noted but that’s pretty good ... and yes I know it was probably Taupin’s lyrics but Elton brings them to life. ;-)


64 posted on 07/23/2012 3:01:00 PM PDT by Tunehead54 (Nothing funny here ;-)
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To: ilovesarah2012

They exterminated the vermin seven months too late.


65 posted on 07/23/2012 3:02:14 PM PDT by libstripper
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To: Iron Munro

And the other “brother” was named after a Buddy Holly song, “RaveOn”.

If Obama had triplets, they’d look like these guys. (No photo available of RaveOn, YET).


66 posted on 07/23/2012 3:02:14 PM PDT by MadMax, the Grinning Reaper
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To: daivid
Another Trayvon, Javon, Leebon, Kieron, Shayon, ...

And Krylon.

67 posted on 07/23/2012 3:03:45 PM PDT by dfwgator (FUJR (not you, Jim))
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To: Iron Munro

What kind of playah has his picture taken in a sh!thouse stall? No, he din’t pull a pistol grip shotgun on the cops and was too stoned to pull the trigger...no, he was a good boy - an honor student.....a cherch boy...you betcha....


68 posted on 07/23/2012 3:16:04 PM PDT by Gaffer
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To: Iron Munro

I doubt those are braces on his teeth. I wonder what the going rate for ‘grills’ is. Playing stupid games, he won the grand prize.


69 posted on 07/23/2012 3:22:03 PM PDT by SueRae (See it? Hell, I can TASTE November from my house!)
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To: mkjessup

Pulling a gun on a cop is generally not a good idea....


70 posted on 07/23/2012 3:22:22 PM PDT by stephenjohnbanker (God, family, country, mom, apple pie, the girl next door and a Ford F250 to pull my boat.)
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To: TigersEye

Natural Ice isn’t tea.

Its one of the lower-end members of the Anheuser-Busch clan of bland domestic McBeers.


71 posted on 07/23/2012 3:37:33 PM PDT by Emperor Palpatine (Tosca, mi fai dimenticare Iddio!!!!!)
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To: Iron Munro

Expect about 100 of these to hit in October...../sig


72 posted on 07/23/2012 3:38:26 PM PDT by mykroar (October race riots bring November martial law.)
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To: Stormdog

at 0900 IN THE MORNING?? well, we’ll see...


73 posted on 07/23/2012 4:28:50 PM PDT by americas.best.days...
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To: Iron Munro
An armed black criminal gets shot and Panthers are oh-so-upset... That's so stupid ...

Think how silly white people would look if the Batman killer - James Holmes - had been shot and killed by police AND we all were up in arms angry that the monster had been shot BECAUSE HE HAD WHITE SKIN. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

If James Holmes had been killed we'd all be cheering. No one would be angry with the police. White people don't stand with criminals BECAUSE they have white skin. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Black people need to grow up, drop the ‘forever victim’ crap and get real. Every common criminal IS NOT a civil rights worker... In the old days being arrested standing up for the right to vote was an honor - but it was never an honor to stand with common criminals. That came later - when extreme leftist entered the scene. Panthers are hurting their communities with twisted liberal values.

74 posted on 07/23/2012 4:41:41 PM PDT by GOPJ (Political correctness is simply George Orwell's Newspeak by a non-threatening name. FR- Bernard Marx)
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To: dfwgator

+1


75 posted on 07/23/2012 5:01:59 PM PDT by Lurker (Violence is rarely the answer. But when it is, it is the only answer.)
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To: Joe Brower

Son of a gun, the Black Panthers are back strutting their stuff.

I wonder if they think they’re going to intimidate white voters next November.

Good luck with that.


76 posted on 07/23/2012 5:17:26 PM PDT by SoFloFreeper
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To: montag813

No, Tampa won’t burn. Certain sections of Miami might (see: Liberty City).

I wonder if there will be mobs of white people running through the street dancing and celebrating. Nope.

I even doubt there will be Mormons dancing in the street in Salt Lake City.

The race-based celebrations in the street only happened because of Obamugabe.


77 posted on 07/23/2012 5:20:01 PM PDT by SoFloFreeper
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To: HIDEK6

I have to turn the heater on. *scoffs*


78 posted on 07/23/2012 5:49:42 PM PDT by POWERSBOOTHEFAN (It's hurricane season! Yay!)
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To: dfwgator

I’m gonna bust a gut,LOL!


79 posted on 07/23/2012 5:56:34 PM PDT by POWERSBOOTHEFAN (It's hurricane season! Yay!)
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To: mkjessup

They made a flavor of Skittles (I can’t remember what it was)that tasted like Alka-Seltzer. I kid you not.

It was supposed to be a sour-like flavor. They still make Sour Skittles but this was a bizarre flavor.


80 posted on 07/23/2012 6:01:12 PM PDT by POWERSBOOTHEFAN (It's hurricane season! Yay!)
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