Posted on 12/19/2001 6:00:43 PM PST by Bubba_Leroy
TAMPA - In hindsight, 83-year-old Helen Shephard wishes she reacted differently Monday afternoon. Honked the horn maybe, or even just drive away.
But looking through her car window into the eyes of her knife-wielding attacker, Shephard was stunned and did what he demanded: She unlocked the passenger door.
As the man rushed inside, Shephard regained her composure. She pounded the man furiously in his face and neck with her purse, and tried to flee to the parking lot of the Circle K at 6802 S. West Shore Blvd.
``I pounded him and pounded him,'' the great-grandmother said Tuesday at her Port Tampa home. ``When I get mad, you better watch it.''
Shephard escaped from the car, but not before being stabbed four times in the hand and scraping her leg.
Her attacker sped off with her purse in her Chevy Malibu.
A day later, across town on Grove Street, the Rev. Fred Triplett's phone began ringing immediately after the evening news. Devon Jamale Triplett, the son he and his wife, Gloria, adopted at age 8, had been arrested again, this time about two weeks after he had stormed out of the house.
``We tried to help him all we could,'' the retired Baptist minister said, wiping his eyes. ``He's a good person, but the kid is mentally sick. He's been in trouble since day one.''
Police say Devon Jamale Triplett, 20, had the keys to Shephard's car when he was arrested Tuesday on a carjacking charge.
Triplett was on supervised release for a grand theft auto in Pinellas County. After serving about a year in jail, he returned home in the fall. His father said he bought him clothes and tried to give him a fresh start. The younger Triplett attended church every Sunday. His father said he thought he was getting through to his son.
But Shephard remembered her attacker's cold stare. ``He had a killer's eyes,'' she said. ``But he didn't realize he had a feisty 83-year-old to fight with.''
Her husband nodded. ``She's had a lot of practice fighting with me,'' joked Sam Shephard, 88.
Her car was recovered nearby, unharmed. And Shephard said she holds out hope for her alleged attacker. ``He might turn out to be a real good person one of these days. I hope he does.''
Was that purse registered? Close the purse show loophole, purses have no legitimate role in sport hunting and should be outlawed.
I know an insurance agent who interviewed a propect one week and read the guy's obit on the front page soon after - car-jacking.
Now, that's an odd phrasing. Usually, cars
are returned undamaged, people unharmed.
Oh, well, go Granny go.
Smith and Wesson could be watching this veeery closely...
The irony of this statement is breath taking.
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