TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Witness Tampering Charged In Brandon Club Slaying

ADVERTISEMENT

By JOSH POLTILOVE | The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 2, 2008

  Tyrone Grimes

TAMPA - Tyrone Lamont Grimes, who is facing a second-degree murder charge in a Brandon nightclub shooting in 2007, was arrested Thursday on a charge of tampering with a witness in that case.

He drove up to the witness Thursday morning in a maroon Ford Taurus and stared at him while waving a black semiautomatic handgun in his left hand before driving off, an arrest affidavit states. The witness was walking with his young daughter so she could catch a ride to school, according to the affidavit.

The witness gave the Taurus' tag number to Hillsborough County deputies, and it was registered to Grimes' wife.

Another witness told deputies he saw a man pull up alongside the Ford and wave a gun in a threatening manner, the affidavit states.

Grimes' attorney, Ronald Kurpiers II, said Grimes is innocent of the tampering and murder charges.

"They're alleging he drove by a witness and made a threatening action toward him, and it just didn't happen," Kurpiers said.

There will be a hearing Wednesday morning on a motion to revoke Grimes' bail, court records show.

Witnesses say that on Oct. 17, someone fired three shots from a handgun inside Fluid, a club at 2016 Town Center Blvd. Sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter said Grimes fired several shots after an argument with someone at the club and that the victim, Karen Williams, 36, was a bystander.

Authorities say there were about 100 people in the club, which became Cee-Jay's Martini Bar and Lounge in late 2007. Williams died at the scene. She had three children, one of them a stepchild.

Williams, who worked for an insurance company, was a wonderful person with a beautiful soprano singing voice and a great sense of humor, said her sister, Sabrina Mitchell.

"Karen was light and sunshine and laughter and a force of nature," Mitchell said. "She was energy."

In January, Grimes said he was in the club when the shooting occurred. He was fired at and didn't fire a gun, he said.

He had been trying to start a music promotion company, Trestar. The people who fired shots in the club had a record label, he said.

"I went in the club promoting and left the club feeling like I lost my whole life," Grimes said in January. "I recently had a car stolen and burnt up. It was rumored people were getting tired of me in Tampa, period. I guess [they thought] I was here trying to spark off what they were trying to do."

Grimes said a big fight broke out at the club and a couple people attacked him. There was a tussle over a gun, but it wasn't his and he never gained possession of it, he said. When he left the club, he was bloody and injured and said he thought he had been shot.

He fled the people who were shooting at him, and he learned later that deputies were searching for him, he said. He said he could not afford a lawyer and was afraid he'd be convicted of a crime he didn't commit.

In January, he said he couldn't "really say" who shot Williams.

After the shooting, Grimes said, he spent three months hiding in Miami, trying to avoid arrest. The Brandon man said he didn't speak to his family or get a job, and he was "sleeping here, sleeping there."

He was arrested Jan. 28.

His bail was set at $165,000, and he was released May 17.

In his arrest Thursday, Grimes, 28, was charged with possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia and arrested on warrants for tampering with a witness, being a felon in possession of a firearm and improper exhibition of a dangerous weapon or firearm, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office jail Web site.

Williams' family wants Grimes to stay in jail without bail.

"Until all of this is played out, that's the best place for him," Sabrina Mitchell said.

Reporter Thomas W. Krause contributed to this report. Reporter Josh Poltilove can be reached at jpoltilove@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7691.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT