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FDLE: Man Shot By Marshal Wanted On Drug Warrant

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By VALERIE KALFRIN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 17, 2008

Updated: 10/17/2008 04:06 pm

TAMPA - A man shot and wounded by a deputy U.S. marshal Thursday was sought on felony drug warrants, an official said today.

David Christopher Sills, 26, was arrested at St. Joseph's Hospital on felony cocaine trafficking warrants after Thursday's shooting.

Sills, of Tampa, was being held without bail at Orient Road Jail this afternoon, jail records show. According to those records, he is a University of South Florida student.

Jim Madden, special agent in charge of the Tampa regional office of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, said Sills was struck in the torso.

The FDLE is investigating the shooting under an agreement with the U.S. Marshals Service office in the Middle District of Florida, Madden said.

Sills was shot about 11:30 a.m. Thursday at The Club at Hidden River, a condominium complex off Fletcher Avenue near Interstate 275, where the deputy marshal and Tampa police tried to arrest him, Madden said. The joint effort was part of the fugitive task force, Madden said.

Court records show the warrants were issued Oct. 2 after Sills failed to appear at a sentencing on a felony cocaine trafficking charge for which he had pleaded guilty.

Madden could not describe how the shooting unfolded, saying investigators were conducting interviews.

However, George Worthen, a construction supervisor at the condominium complex, said he saw investigators on Thursday combing through a small grassy area between the sales office and a footbridge. They indicated Sills had been shot there after running from the parking lot, Worthen said.

Madden declined to release the name of the marshal involved, deferring to the federal agency. Dan Winfield, a local spokesman for the Marshals Service, declined to release the name today, citing the ongoing investigation.

An attempt to locate Sills' relatives was unsuccessful.

Reporter Valerie Kalfrin can be reached at (813) 259-7800 or vkalfrin@tampatrib.com.

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