TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Gang-Related Attack Spurs Arrests At Clearwater School

ADVERTISEMENT

By MARK DOUGLAS of News Channel 8 and STEPHEN THOMPSON of The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 17, 2008

Updated: 01/17/2008 09:16 pm

CLEARWATER - Police swooped down on a baseball field across the street from Kennedy Middle School today and arrested seven boys they say took part in a gang-related attack on campus Wednesday.

Two are Kennedy students and five attend Largo Middle School, said Elizabeth Daly-Watts, Clearwater's public safety spokeswoman. An eighth boy was arrested on obstruction charges after he refused to cooperate in the investigation, even though he wasn't involved in the attack, she said.

About 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, the seven, all of whom are associated with the Latin gang Quince, targeted a 13-year-old Kennedy student they mistakenly thought was associated with a rival Latin gang called SUR 13, Daly-Watts said.

They beat him and took his jacket, Daly-Watts said. They also struck a 12-year-old schoolmate of his in the head with a closed pocketknife. A campus police officer was told of a fight on school grounds, but everyone had dispersed by the time he arrived, Daly-Watts said.

This morning, one of the boys assaulted, along with his parents, met with the campus police officer and told him the suspects were at the baseball field across the street, at the Sid Lickton Complex, she said. The seven were then arrested.

Six of the seven were charged with robbery and with trespassing on school property, since the attack Wednesday occurred after hours on school grounds, Daly-Watts said. The seventh suspect, a 13-year-old Largo Middle student, was charged with robbery, aggravated battery and trespassing on school grounds with a deadly weapon, by virtue of having the pocketknife, she said.

The robbery charge was filed because of the stolen jacket, she said.

Today four patrol cars and a prisoner transport vehicle were parked at the school, and a number of juveniles were loaded into the vehicle, which left the campus shortly afterward. At one point, there were at least eight police vehicles at the school.

Once the campus police officer was told of the alleged attackers' whereabouts today, he summoned backup and went to the field. According to one witness, force was used in arresting one person who tried to run off.

The witness, Tammy Barnes, said she saw police manhandling one juvenile they were taking into custody moments after she dropped her son off at Kennedy Middle. She said she stopped her car and asked them to stop beating the boy and that an officer who identified himself as the campus police officer asked her to step away and stop interfering, she said.

Largo Middle School students who were arrested:

Isahi Moralas, 13, charged with robbery, aggravated battery, trespassing on school grounds with deadly weapon.

Jose Morales, no age given, charged with robbery and trespassing.

Zenon Perez, 13, charged with robbery and trespassing.

Miguel Rivera-Cruz, 15, charged with robbery and trespassing.

Giovanny Flores, 13, charged with robbery and trespassing.

Kennedy Middle School students who were arrested:

David Cruz, 14, charged with robbery and trespassing.

Gerardo Pena, 14, charged with robbery and trespassing.

The name of the eighth boy arrested was not released.

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

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT