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Ex-Con Killed In Friend's Tampa Apartment

PAUL LAMISON / News Channel 8

Tampa police investigate the body of a man found dead at a business at 3004 N. 22nd St. Friday, Oct. 12.

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By HOWARD ALTMAN | The Tampa Tribune
and VALERIE KALFRIN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 12, 2007

Updated: 10/12/2007 04:59 pm

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TAMPA - A new start Harold Jones hoped to give his friend turned out to last only a few hours.

Hearing that Kenny Love Washington was down on his luck, Jones told him he could sleep on a sofa in a two-story building Jones owns at North 22nd Street and East 21st Avenue.

The mixed-use property includes a barbershop, a church and an office, where Jones thought his friend could sleep until an upstairs apartment became available. He said he gave Washington a key about 11 p.m. Thursday.

Sometime after Jones' offer of kindness, someone attacked Washington, 43, in the single room, killing him, Tampa police said. One of Jones' workers found the man dead about 6 a.m. Friday.

"I don't know if he invited someone in or what," Jones said, reeling from the news.

"We grew up together, and he called me up when he got out of jail," Jones said. "If you have a friend and you know they've been in trouble, reading the Bible and trying to get it together, you're gonna help them, not push them out in the street. That's what I was doing."

Jones said one of his workers found the body upon going to the building to awaken Washington.

"He went around to the front door, knocked on it and didn't get an answer," Jones said. "Then he went around to the back and knocked again. When he didn't get an answer, he walked in and found him on the floor."

The worker called 911, summoning police to the building just north of Ybor City.

Tampa police Cpl. Jared Douds would not say how Washington was killed. "There was a lot of trauma to the body," he said.

Investigators are interviewing people in the area to help determine a motive for the slaying, Douds said.

Public records show Washington was on community supervision until 2010 for felony driving with a suspended or revoked license.

Florida Department of Corrections records show Washington has been in and out of state prisons since 1984. His convictions include a Seminole County second-degree attempted murder charge and charges in Orange County, including felony battery, aggravated assault with a weapon and felony cocaine possession.

Several hearses are parked behind the building where the man died, leading to confusion initially over whether the building contained a funeral home. Jones said he is trying to open one in a nearby building that is not part of the complex.

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