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Sarasota Teenager Dies In Brawl At Birthday Party

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By ANTHONY CORMIER and TIFFANY LANKES

Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Published: August 1, 2008

SARASOTA COUNTY - There were maybe a dozen teenagers - and one adult - at the house on Lelani Boulevard to celebrate the 18th birthday of a Sarasota High School wrestler.

Max Herrera, 41, threw the party for his son, witnesses say, and was there while high school students drank beer. One witness says that Herrera also took part in the brawl that broke out after midnight and left one of his son's friends, Greg Kennedy, fatally injured.

Detectives spent Thursday re-interviewing key witnesses to try to determine who attacked Kennedy, and how much responsibility the elder Herrera has for the fight that started at his home. No one had been charged so far.

Witnesses said the fight was fueled by alcohol and the rivalry between students from Sarasota and Riverview high schools.

The party Monday night started with a group of Sarasota High friends celebrating star wrestler Robert Herrera's birthday.

The teens listened to rap music and drank beer, witnesses said. Sometime around midnight a group of students from Riverview called and asked if they could stop by.

The Riverview group included a few teens who had scuffled with some of the Sarasota group before.

The teens began to quarrel soon after they arrived, and witnesses said Max Herrera ordered the Riverview students out of his house.

On the lawn, the groups continued to exchange words, and some members of the group came to blows.

The Riverview group got in their cars and left. As they drove down Lelani Boulevard, one of them shouted, "This ain't over."

Inside, Kennedy fell asleep on a couch.

About half an hour later, four SUVs arrived at the Herrera home. Out jumped at least 12 teenagers, one armed with a baseball bat, several witnesses said.

They banged on the door and smashed in a front window.

As the fight started, Kennedy awoke and ran outside with others.

As many as 25 students were swinging wildly and kicking at one another. It is unclear whether anyone was hit with the baseball bat, and several students said it was discarded during the brawl.

A source close to the investigation and one of the teens who was there said that the elder Herrera, who had been drinking, jumped into the fray.

"Robert's father was actually fighting one of these kids," said Tai Nguyen, a Riverview student who is transferring to Sarasota High this year and is a friend of Herrera's.

Nguyen said Kennedy did not want to fight, and was just trying to help his friends: "A lot of people were running around and jumping up and down. ... Then I saw Greg being carried to the side." Neighbors called 911.

When deputies arrived about 12:30 a.m., Kennedy was not breathing. He was briefly revived and flown to a trauma unit in St. Petersburg. He spent the day in the hospital and died Wednesday after he was removed from life support.

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