TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Man Threatened To Shoot Boy, 6, Deputies Say

ADVERTISEMENT

By LISA A. DAVIS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 5, 2008

HOLIDAY - A man threatened a 6-year-old boy playing with a plastic soda bottle during the Super Bowl, the Pasco County Sheriff's Office said.

Ali Alzarkani Jr. tagged along with his father to a friend's apartment on Sunday, and while the two men chatted and watched the game, Ali tossed around an empty soda bottle outside.

About 8 p.m. a man appeared and began yelling at the boy. Pablo Velez, 53, then reached into the right side of his waistband, pulled out a black handgun and pointed it at the boy, according to a sheriff's office report.

"If you don't stop throwing the bottle, I'm going to shoot you," Velez reportedly said.

The boy's 35-year-old father and friend Abdulmohsin Alsultani, 46, ran outside. At the time, Velez was still hurling angry words at the child, Ali Alzarkani Sr. said Monday.

"I said, 'You can't curse at my son. You're crazy,'" he recalled.

When Alzarkani spotted the gun, "I told him, 'You get killed if you kill my son.'"

Velez pointed the weapon at the other two men, the report said, then walked toward the Economy Inn across the street and into its office.

Alzarkani dialed 911. When deputies questioned Velez at the motel at 2018 U.S. 19, he identified himself as the groundskeeper and said that when he confronted the boy, Ali stopped playing with the soda bottle.

Then two men came outside and argued with him, Velez told authorities. He denied having a gun.

Deputies searched the motel office and found a black Gamo P-23 air pistol, a hobby gun that shoots pellets, in a cabinet, the report said. It matched the description Ali gave to deputies.

Velez, of 2024 Ardsley Lane, was arrested on two counts of aggravated assault. He was being held Monday at Land O' Lakes Jail with bail set at $10,000.

As for Ali, his mind keeps racing about the incident, his father said. "He's still nervous."

Reporter Lisa A. Davis can be reached at (727) 815-1083 or ldavis@tampatrib.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT