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Traveler Shot Himself Before Flight, Officials Say

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By STEPHEN THOMPSON, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 24, 2007

DUNEDIN - An unemployed man was lying when he told authorities he was shot and then went to Tampa International Airport and boarded a flight, Pinellas County sheriff's officials said Tuesday.

The wounds William Notaro suffered were from a BB pistol, and they were self-inflicted, said sheriff's Sgt. Jim Bordner.

Now, Pinellas authorities are contemplating whether to bring charges against him.

Notaro, 37, who is staying with family in Albany, N.Y., claimed to have boarded a US Airways flight Saturday with bullet wounds.

He reportedly asked for a Band-Aid while onboard, and a flight attendant asked for help from authorities at the Charlotte/Douglas International Airport, where Notaro had a layover. Notaro was treated at the Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte before continuing on his way to Albany.

Notaro, Bordner said, lied to authorities in North Carolina, Florida and New York.

Investigators say Notaro probably was intoxicated when he shot himself three times with a BB gun early Saturday at a friend's place at Windemere apartments, 1763 Main St., Dunedin.

According to a report filed with the Charlotte/Douglas International Airport Police Department, Notaro told an officer that he had been shot three times with a .22-caliber handgun by an ex-girlfriend in Dunedin. He later told authorities in New York it was a man who had shot him and that the man had shot him with a BB rifle, Bordner said.

Pinellas sheriff's detectives quickly established the incident was not a domestic-related shooting as originally reported by Notaro, and they later learned that a BB gun rather than a firearm had caused the wounds, Bordner said.

On Tuesday, Notaro told detectives in Pinellas County that he shot himself with a BB pistol. That account has been partially substantiated by witness statements.

Also, two BBs Notaro's friends removed from him at Windemere have been recovered. The whereabouts of a third BB hasn't been determined but no projectiles were found in his body when he was checked out in Charlotte, Bordner said.

Notaro's credibility remains questionable because of the numerous untrue statements made to investigators in Florida, North Carolina and New York, Bordner said.

Because Notaro gave authorities vastly different stories of how he was injured, they will meet with prosecutors from the Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney's Office to discuss charging him with one count of making a false report of a crime.

Last year, Notaro's wife, Jodie, filed for divorce and sought full custody of their three children, Pinellas court records show. Records show he was in arrears in child support by more than $2,000 as of May.
Notaro had worked for Bright House Networks for a couple of years, and left the company in mid-September, company spokesman Joe Durkin said. Durkin declined to discuss the circumstances of Notaro's departure or what Notaro did for Bright House.

Reporter Stephen Thompson can be reached at spthompson @tampatrib.com or (727) 451-2336.

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