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'It Was Like A Horror Movie,' Boy Says Of Mom's Slaying

News Channel 8 Photo by KATY HENNIG

Gabriel Neal, accompanied by his father John, speaks to the press at St. Joseph's Hospital in Tampa about the stabbing incident that injured him and killed his mother.

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By GEOFF FOX | The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 28, 2008

TAMPA - Gabriel Neal never much liked the man authorities say fatally stabbed his mother.

This afternoon, Gabriel, 16, was wheeled into an auditorium at St. Joseph's Children's Hospital in Tampa, where he is recovering from being stabbed while trying to save his mother, according to the Pasco County Sheriff's Office.

"It was like a horror movie," Neal said in a soft voice.

Neal was stabbed in the chest, mouth, hand and back. A lung was punctured and he lost a tooth. It's unclear when he'll get out of the hospital.

Authorities say Orane Glen Ferguson, 29, stabbed his 35-year-old wife, Lenora Michelle Ferguson, July 20 at their Land O' Lakes home.

Deputies say the two argued and then got into a fistfight over food. When Ferguson told her son to call 911, Neal went to the kitchen and grabbed a knife; Orane Ferguson followed and did the same, deputies say.

His wife ran into a bathroom and shut the door, sheriff's spokesman Doug Tobin said. Orane Ferguson kicked down the door and stabbed her, according to authorities.

When Neal tried to enter the bathroom, Ferguson stabbed him, Tobin said.

He was trying to save his mom.

"She was a good single parent and always tried to do the best for me," Neal said today. "Sometimes we had our run-ins, but we had a good relationship."

Neal's take on Orane Ferguson is much different.

"I really didn't care for him," he said. "He used to try and argue with her. I'd jump in sometimes and tell him to chill out."

Ferguson, 29, had been married to Neal's mother about three years. He is in the Land O' Lakes Jail, with bail set at $100,000, charged with second-degree murder and attempted murder.

Lakesha Robinson, Lenora Ferguson's sister, said the family is offended that Ferguson wasn't charged with first-degree murder.

Robinson said she and her husband, Brandon, now are Neal's guardians and will be moving here from Key West so Neal can attend Sunlake High School in Land O' Lakes.

"Everybody has his back," Brandon Robinson said. "He's my nephew, but he's just like a son to me."

Lakesha Robinson said it is more important that people remember her sister for how she lived, not her violent death.

"My sister was one of the most beautiful, nicest people," she said. "She was in love with the wrong man, but she did not deserve to be [killed]. He continued to stab her after she was dead.

"You leave children without a mother. If you don't want to be there, just walk away."

Robinson worries the justice system will fail her sister and nephew.

John Neal, Gabriel's father, has his own ideas about what should happen to Ferguson:

"He should be tied up and thrown into the Mississippi River," he said. "I think they should cut him up in a million pieces. Honestly."

The Gabriel Neal and Lenora Ferguson Trust Fund has been established at all Bank of America locations with the intent of using donations to cover funeral and medical expenses.

Reporter Geoff Fox can be reached at (813) 779-4613 or gfox@tampatrib.com.

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