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3 Killed In Tampa Shooting Said To Be Childhood Friends

News Channel 8 photo by PAUL LAMISON

The flag was flown at half staff today at Hillsborough County Fire Rescue’s Westchase Station.

By JOSH POLTILOVE | The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 9, 2008

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Chris Artigas

TAMPA - Three people fatally shot by Jorge Orlando Bello Garcia in his northwest Tampa rental home Saturday morning were childhood friends who knew one another from the time they were 10 or 11, a friend said Monday.

Hillsborough County deputies say Bello, also known as George Bello, fatally shot estranged wife Gina Marie Lamantia-Bello, Hillsborough County Fire Rescue Capt. Christopher Artigas and Regina Coffaro. Bello shot and wounded two deputies as he fled. The rampage ended after another deputy shot Bello in the head.

For Frank Fernandez, an acquaintance of the slain women and a colleague of Artigas, the loss was tragic.

"Chris not only enjoyed and loved firefighting, he enjoyed showing rookies the ropes and breaking them in," said Fernandez, the department's interim personnel chief. "His abilities and skills as a firefighter were top-notch. He was one of our more seasoned captains."

A memorial service with full honors is scheduled for 11 a.m. Wednesday at Van Dyke United Methodist Church, 17030 Lakeshore Road.

While Artigas' friends mourn, people who knew Bello are asking what could have led to the bloodbath. One former neighbor, Kecia Bruzon, said she never saw Bello angry.

"He was always so nice and so good to us. I think the separation from his wife took a toll," Bruzon said.

Happy To Help A Rookie

Artigas served as a mentor to Bruce Delk, now Hillsborough Fire Rescue spokesman, when Delk came to Station No. 14 as a rookie in 1991. Artigas would stay late at the station, at 131st Avenue and 15th Street, to teach Delk how to be a better firefighter.

"Over the years, he always had a joke, he always had a smile," Delk said. "He did impressions. He was a talented man. He walked into a room and would light it up. Everybody loved him."

Artigas, who leaves behind a wife and three children, was a Jefferson High graduate. He was hired by the department in March 1984 and became a fire captain in June 1995, Hillsborough Fire Rescue said in a statement.

Most recently he had been assigned to Fire Station No. 35 on Countryway Boulevard in Westchase.

"He was very passionate about his work in whatever role he was fulfilling, be it captain, team leader, or cook," the statement said.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, while working with a task force in Biloxi, Miss., Artigas served 459 meals from a make-shift camp stove in sweltering heat in the middle of a parking lot.

A guitarist and singer, he performed about once a week at Rick's on the River in Tampa and was a regular customer there, said Ken Brackins, a manager there.

"He was a real nice guy, and nobody could say anything bad about him," Brackins said. "He was just real easy to talk to."

Shooter Told Neighbor Of Ill Health

Bruzon said she was shocked when she heard news of Saturday's shooting. She remembered Bello as a good neighbor, always was nice and attentive, who gave her toys and children's books for her son.

"He told me my son won't need the books now, but he will when he grows up," Bruzon said Monday, while holding the 11-month-old boy just outside her front door.

Bruzon lives on Paris Street in Town 'N Country, next door to where Bello lived until he moved away a few months ago. The home went into foreclosure.

"When his wife was at the house with him, I never heard any arguing," said Bruzon, 24. "I still can't believe what happened. I don't know what to say. I can't imagine what he was going through to do something like that. He's not like that."

At Bello's new home, 11220 Elmfield Drive in northwest Tampa, where the shooting occurred Saturday, neighbors had heard him and his wife arguing. The only 911 call to the house this year, in addition to Saturday, proved to be a false alarm, Hillsborough County Sheriff's spokesman J.D. Callaway said.

Bruzon said Bello told her recently he had been diagnosed with diabetes and wasn't feeling well.

"He didn't look good, he was very thin," she said. "He brought us some cookies he bought because he had diabetes and couldn't eat them. He didn't want them to go to waste. That's the kind of person he was."

Bruzon said the "for sale" sign at Bello's Town 'N Country home has been up three or four months.

"The house really isn't in very good shape. Quite a few people have come by to see it, but who knows what will happen to it now. Maybe a relative will take it over."

Reporter Cloe Cabrera contributed to this report. Reporter Josh Poltilove can be reached at jpoltilove@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7691.

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