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4 Teens Arrested In Dade City Drive-By

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By LISA A. DAVIS

The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 9, 2008

DADE CITY - The green Dodge Neon went back and forth in front of a home several times before a young man leaned out the front passenger window and pointed a sawed-off shotgun at six people standing outside, a sheriff's office report states.

"This is for you," someone yelled from the car.

One shot rang out about 7:15 p.m. Tuesday outside 39522 River Road.

Melissa Dawn Foote, 23, was holding her year-old daughter, Mikaela Alyssa Lopez, when she saw the gun and started running for the home, according to a Pasco County Sheriff's Office report. She had just reached the door when she heard the shot, looked back and saw the Neon speeding away.

Nobody was injured.

About an hour before the Neon showed up, a red PT Cruiser drove by the River Road home several times. The car's occupants yelled at Foote and her boyfriend, Raymoudo Lopez, 24, trying to entice him into a fight, the report said. But Foote wouldn't let him go to the street, and the PT Cruiser left.

Anna Marie Lester, 41, Lopez's mother, told deputies her sons and the boys down the street have had ongoing problems.

About the same time as the Neon made its final drive by the home, Deputy George Day III was talking with a resident on nearby Sumner Lake Road and heard a "loud boom." He saw a small green vehicle racing south and noticed it make a U-turn and head back north.

At the same time, word of the shooting came over his work radio and a description of the Neon was broadcast, the report said. Day hopped in his patrol vehicle but could not catch the Neon.

The car's occupants apparently bailed out later near Pasco High School, and three of them were caught on the football field, the report states. A fourth suspect was found at his home.

Arrested were: Larry Dykes, 17, of 35346 Flowerfield Lane, on six counts of aggravated assault with a firearm and one count of shooting from a vehicle; Bobby Joe Fussell, 17, of 14713 20th St., on charges of accessory after the fact and obstruction; and a 14-year-old and 15-year-old on misdemeanor obstruction charges.

Investigators say Dykes was the shooter and is one of the boys from "down the street" that Lopez's mother mentioned. Dykes has denied involvement in the shooting.
Fussell reportedly told deputies he was out testing his car after making repairs when two men in the group outside the River Road home started throwing their hands in the air and yelling when he drove by. When Fussell told some of the other teens about it, Dykes told Fussell to drive him over there, the report said.
Fussell told deputies he didn't know Dykes was going to shoot at the people on River Road, according to the report.

All four teens were taken to the Juvenile Assessment Center in Land O' Lakes. No other information on their status was available Thursday.

Reporter Lisa A. Davis can be reached at (727) 815-1083 or ldavis@tampatrib.com.

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