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St. Pete Police ID Woman Slain While Sleeping In Car

News Channel 8 photo by RUGENE MOORE

Investigators collect evidence after a deadly shooting on the shore of Lake Maggiore.

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By CARLOS MONCADA | The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 9, 2008

Updated: 05/09/2008 12:52 pm

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Angela Burgess

ST. PETERSBURG - Family and friends of a woman killed sleeping in a car this morning say they are in shock.

Police identified the woman as Angela Burgess, 32. She died at the scene from multiple gunshot wounds, the 13th homicide in the city this year.

Police said the shooting does not appear to be random and that Burgess may have been the intended target.

Burgess' mother-in-law, Cynthia Woods, was at the crime scene this morning, her voice soft as she talked about how this is the second time her family has been touched by this kind of violence. Her son, Calvin, was shot dead three years ago.

"You see it -- one more in the neighborhood," Woods said. "I feel the police need to do more to get the guns off the street. When every time you turn around someone you know personally is getting killed, it's just like a way of life. That's sad."

Burgess was sleeping in a car in the 2800 block of Pallanza Drive South about 5:15 this morning while she waited for an acquaintance to finish fishing on the north edge of Lake Maggiore, police spokesman Bill Proffitt said.

The fisherman, who is not being identified because the shooter has not been arrested, told police he had been fishing all night. He said a car dropped off Burgess about 4 a.m., an hour before the shooting. She climbed into his car to wait for him to finish fishing so he could driver her home, Proffitt said.

Investigators say a man carrying a high-powered semiautomatic rifle approached the scene by walking between houses on the south side of Pallanza. The shooter fired several rounds at the fisherman, who dove into the lake, then at the vehicle.

A bullet pierced the front passenger door, and the passenger-side window was shattered, Proffitt said. Burgess died at the scene.

"We believe the woman might have been the primary target in the shooting and that perhaps the fisherman simply was not in the right place at the right time," Proffitt said.

The man fishing was struck in the lower body and also may have a shoulder injury. He was taken to a local hospital.

The shooter fled to the south-southwest. Authorities have not identified him and say they do not have a good description.

Neighbors said they heard several shots fired in rapid succession. Family members and friends gathered near the shooting scene this morning, holding each other or crying on their cell phones.

"She was such a happy person," Woods said of Burgess. "Outgoing, free-spirited. She didn't bother anybody."

Others in the crowd were angry. One woman repeatedly cried "No! No! No! No!" as she pounded her hands on a brick column in a front yard. A young man, thought to be Burgess's son, punched a Realtor sign outside a house, breaking it in two.

"They keep doing this because it's no consequence," Anthony Jackson said as he drove by the area. "This is just crazy."

Stay with TBO.com for developments.

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