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Half-Brother Arrested In Pasco Teen's Slaying

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By LISA A. DAVIS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 16, 2008

Updated: 10/16/2008 05:37 pm

PORT RICHEY - The half-brother of 18-year-old Ridgewood High student whose body was found in a Dumpster outside a church last month has been arrested in the slaying.

Pasco detectives say Derrick "La-Tee" Harris, 22, shot Anthony S. Granton in the back of the head and then threw his body in a the oversized trash bin outside Trinity Memorial Church, not far from Ridgewood High, off Orchid Lake Road.

A man who said his name as David Williams called 911 just before 3 p.m. Sept. 27 and said he found a body in the bin. Detectives said they think Harris made the emergency call.

In the investigation after deputies retrieved Granton's body, they found a pool of blood in the trunk of a white Honda owned by Granton and Harris.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement crime lab matched the blood to Granton.

At first, Harris told detectives he went to a Valentine Bloods party on Sept. 26. He told them that while hiding behind several sport utility vehicles after stealing rims from a car, he heard people talking about dumping a body in the trash, sheriff's office spokesman Doug Tobin said.

Tobin said the men whose rims were supposedly stolen told detectives they didn't know what they were talking about.

"A lot of things just didn't add up in his stories," Tobin said.

Harris also told detectives that the next day he was cleaning his Honda at the same Dumpster, found his half-brother's body, then went to a convenience store and called 911.

"At least he had the decency to contact authorities so we could find the body of his half-brother," Tobin said.

According to a report, Harris told detectives he was the only one who drove the Honda between Sept. 26 and Sept.27.

Granton was last seen alive at his home about 7:30 p.m. Sept. 26.

Three witnesses told deputies they saw Harris with a gun at the gang party the next evening.

Harris said he had his half-brother's cell phone and driver's license, the report states.

After detectives questioned Harris further, he "displayed a violent temper and could not explain how the victim's blood got into the vehicle that he had in his possession," Detective James Gariepy wrote in the arrest affidavit.

Harris was arrested on a first-degree murder charge Thursday morning at his home at 6124 Sea Breeze Drive, Port Richey. He also was picked up on an outstanding warrant, accused of renting eight tires and eight chrome rims from Rent-A-Wheel and not paying for them or returning them. He's being held without bail at the Land O' Lakes jail.

Tobin said detectives don't have the gun that killed Granton or know where the shooting occurred. "We're still trying to pin that down," he said.

Although Granton's friends decorated the Dumpster where he was found with red and black — the colors of the Bloods gang, — they said he wasn't a gang member. Sheriff's officials also said they don't think Harris was in a gang.

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

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