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There's No Time Left To Wonder 'What If?'

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By STEVE OTTO

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 11, 2008

Just like that and there is a hole in your stomach and you think you are dead.

Maybe you don't even think. There isn't time to do anything but react. The consequences come later, if you are still around to face them.

We have always lived in a culture that was no stranger to violence. We celebrate it in our movies and games. Our heroes are the tough guys on both sides of the law.

But there is no question these are mean and dangerous times. I talked with Hillsborough County Sheriff David Gee recently and he admitted it was tougher in his profession than in years past. Last weekend was no exception.

You don't expect to go to work on a warm Saturday morning and be fighting for your life in a hospital with a gunshot wound before noon.

You've read the details of the carnage that took place this past Saturday in Carrollwood, where four people were shot dead and two Hillsborough County deputies wounded.

One of the deputies has been released from the hospital. Deputy Arturo "Art" Lence is still in St. Joseph's Hospital.
Lence was one of the two deputies caught up in a shootout with Jorge Bello Garcia, who had left the scene of a shooting and was cornered in his pickup truck at Linebaugh Avenue and Henderson Road. In the ensuing gunfight, Bello apparently got off at least 13 rounds.

One of those hit Lence in the lower torso and exited his back.

Bad timing? Bad luck? Part of the job?

Another Day At The Office

It was last August when Lence showed up on the scene where another deputy was in a standoff with an armed man inside a small house. Lence jumped out of his car to retrieve some equipment from his trunk. It was while he was bent over he heard the glass shattering all around him. The suspect had fired his 12-gauge shotgun at Lence, the first shot had gone into the hood and the second through the car window. Had Lence been in his car he almost certainly would have been killed.

In November 2001, while the nation was recovering from the emotions of 9/11, Lence found himself in a chase that ended when the fleeing car crashed into a wall outside of Cheval. And there was another shootout, critically wounding the suspect.

On The Streets

I talked with Maj. Louis Hollinshead about what it's like out there these days. I like this guy. Hollinshead is one of us. He was born here, graduated from Middleton and the University of South Florida. Now the District 1 commander has 29 years with the sheriff's office.

"I think society has changed so much since I started," he says. "It has always gone with the territory that you never know what to expect and you have to be ready; but today it seems as if everyone is armed and everyone is ready to fire the first shot.

"I think people used to have - and I don't want to use the word fear - but maybe respect ... Young people used to have more respect for educators and parents and law enforcement. I have a son, and we want our families to grow up in a safe environment. But, you know, we can only do so much and society is going to have to come to terms with what it wants as well."

Keyword, Otto Graphs, to read and comment on Steve Otto's blog.

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