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Purse Thefts, Pursuit

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By KEITH MORELLI

kmorelli@tampatrib.com

Published: December 19, 2008

TAMPA - The theft of a pair of purses in Lutz turned into a two-county pursuit that didn't end even after sheriff's deputies boxed in the suspects' car and opened fire.

As four deputies shot at least a combined dozen rounds at the rented Saturn Vue - and as rush-hour traffic mounted Thursday morning on North Dale Mabry Highway - the driver rammed the Saturn through the trap and sped north into Pasco County.

Inside the vehicle, the Hillsborough County sheriff's office said, were Demetrius Perry, the 23-year-old driver, and Terence Mason, 31, both of Fort Lauderdale. They eventually were arrested by Pasco deputies and charged with two counts each of aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer and aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer.

Mason was taken to St. Joseph's Hospital and treated for a gunshot wound to a hand.

No one else was injured.

By late morning, a half-mile of Dale Mabry had been closed in both directions while investigators scoured the median and shoulder for evidence, placing colored and numbered markers on the ground and taking notes. The highway reopened about 1 p.m.

The first purse was stolen about 8 a.m. from a car parked at a day care center at 111 Myrtle Ridge Road in Lutz, Hillsborough sheriff's spokesman J.D. Callaway said. Within minutes, officials said, the same thieves broke into a car at Lutz Elementary School and stole a purse.

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