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2nd Suspect Arrested In Shooting Of 2 East Bay Students

TBO.com photo by JAMES D. COLLINS

Sheriff’s officials say two East Bay High students were stable when they were flown to Tampa General Hospital on Monday.

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By Josh Poltilove of The Tampa Tribune and Samara Sodos of News Channel 8

Published: December 18, 2007

GIBSONTON - A second suspect has been arrested in the shooting of two East Bay High students. His brother remains at large.

   Jeffrey Brian Argo

Hillsborough County deputies say the brothers and a third teenager were involved in Monday's shooting. The third suspect, Jeffrey Brian Argo, 19, was arrested early today.

James Gainey, 16, a ninth-grader at East Bay, turned himself in about 4:30 p.m. today. He has been in the Tampa area since Monday's shooting, and his mother was with him when he turned himself in.

Argo and Gainey have been charged with two counts each of attempted first-degree murder.

Argo drove Gainey and his 17-year-old brother, Brian Gainey, to the bus stop to retaliate against the two students, according to an arrest affidavit.

Brian Gainey

Detectives said Argo told them all three suspects got out of Argo's 1990 maroon Nissan Maxima and that Brian Gainey fired a handgun at the students as they walked from their bus stop at 8029 Carriage Pointe Drive, off Symmes Road, at 3:30 p.m.

Jessica Davis, 16, was shot in the chest, and a Gregory Powell, 16, was shot in the back, sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter said. Both were flown to Tampa General Hospital. Word of their condition was not available early today, but sheriff's officials said they were stable when they were taken from the scene of the shooting.

Deputies initially reported the Gainey brothers might be fleeing in a blue Toyota in the Orlando area. Deputies no longer are looking for the car, Capt. J.R. Burton said.

Argo's grandmother, Diane Drake, said she was devastated by his arrest today but that she believes he is an innocent victim who tried to help the wrong crowd.

James Gainey

"Jeffrey's not a mean person," she said. "He's been naïve, but he would do everything for anybody that asked him, and that's part of his downfall. Something I warned him about forever – you don't have to be doing something wrong, you just have to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Drake said she raised Argo from the time he was 3 months old because her daughter has had problems with drugs and the boy's father lives in Delaware.

Argo was an Eagle Scout who played football and graduated from East Bay, Drake said. He attended college in Danville, Va., but recently decided to transfer to Hillsborough Community College or an area technical school.

This isn't Argo's first run-in with law enforcement.

In 2005, he received probation and four other boys spent time behind bars for their roles in automated teller machine robberies in Temple Terrace, she said.

The shooting appears to be related to a fight last week at the bus stop, say witnesses and Jessica Davis' family members.

DeUndray and Brehanna Davis say their sister and Gregory Towell had watched a fight at the school bus stop Friday. A relative of one person in that fight was angry that Jessica and her friend did not intervene, said Jessica's brother and sister.

East Bay Principal Sharon Morris addressed the question of school security during this morning's announcements.

"As you noticed, there are extra security measures in place. School security and the sheriff's office are working together."

Students took exams today, and Morris said teachers should issue few hall passes.

Morris told the students that their injured classmates were recovering and urged everyone to talk to the counselors about their concerns.

"Students, remember East Bay High School is a safe place. Rest assured – your safety is our No. 1 priority."

People in the neighborhood say it's still a basically good place to live and except for some jitters about letting their children gather at the school bus stop today, there were few signs the shootings had much effect.

Nathan Shipley, 32, lives around the corner from the shooting scene and said he still thinks the area is nice. Shipley said he knew his fiancée's children were affected by the shootings when they asked him whether they could move.

"We told them it was just one incident," he said.

Tribune reporters Liz Bleau and Mike Wells contributed to this report. News Channel 8 reporter Samara Sodos can be reached at slsodos@wfla.com or (813) 314-5379. Reporter Josh Poltilove can be reached at jpoltilove@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7691.

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