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Women Face Off; Shot Fired

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By JOSH POLTILOVE | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 17, 2008

Updated: 01/17/2008 01:12 pm

Loraine Amanda Taffanelli

TAMPA - A woman fired a 9 mm Smith & Wesson gun and struck an occupied Tampa home Wednesday, police say.

Police arrested Loraine Amanda Taffanelli, 24, and Gloria Perez, 24, on Wednesday evening at 8419 N. Mulberry St., Apt. B.

Taffanelli, who authorities say is a member of the Latin Kings gang, held the gun in a threatening manner until Perez took it and fired it once, a criminal arrest affidavit states. The bullet struck a door at 8427 N. Mulberry St.

Gloria Perez

The bullet tore through the home's front door and penetrated an entertainment case in the home, a police report states.

Officers recovered the gun from a neighbor's yard.

Cecilia Gonzalez, who lives in the Mulberry Street home, told police the incident stemmed from a fight she had had just before Christmas with a neighbor, the report states. Gonzalez said Taffanelli and Perez are friends with the woman she fought.

On Wednesday, Gonzalez told police, she heard a knock on her door, and when she opened it, Taffanelli stood outside yelling at her. Taffanelli showed her a black handgun with a brown and black handle, she said.

Gonzalez closed the door and summoned her boyfriend to the door, according to the police report.

Her boyfriend, 23-year-old Christopher Lee Garcia, went outside and punched Taffanelli, she told police.

Taffanelli told police she had gone to the home to visit a friend when an unknown man started arguing with her, saying her friend no longer lived there, the report states. He punched her on the forehead, and later she heard a gunshot and ran to her friend's apartment and started to call police when officers arrested her, she said.

Perez was charged with shooting into an occupied dwelling and aggravated assault-discharging a weapon.

Taffanelli was charged with aggravated assault-discharging a weapon. According to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office Web site, she also was charged with possession of less than 20 grams of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Both were in Orient Road Jail this morning. Perez's bail was set at $15,000; Taffanelli's was set at $8,500.

Reporter Josh Poltilove can be reached at jpoltilove@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7691.

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