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Kidnapping Victim Shoots 2 Of His Captors, Deputies Say

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By STEPHEN THOMPSON

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 9, 2008

It was after he was forced into the back seat of a car at gunpoint Sunday night that kidnapping victim Gregory Longley saw his opportunity.

When one of the kidnappers - sitting next to Longley - put his gun on his lap to text-message someone, Longley grabbed the gun and killed him, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office. Longley also shot and wounded another kidnapper sitting in the front passenger seat, the sheriff's office said, and told the driver to stop the car.

The dead man has been identified as Javon Strange, 18, of 4717 N. Habana Ave., Apt. 711, Tampa, said sheriff's Sgt. Jim Bordner. The wounded kidnapper has been identified as Juan Carlos Morales, 17, of 12510 Memorial Highway, Tampa; he was taken to St. Joseph's Hospital for an injury that was not life-threatening, Bordner said.

The driver - identified as Abdusbasiyr A. Blake, 18, also of 12510 Memorial Highway - is in Pinellas County Jail on charges of kidnapping and second-degree murder. He was being held without bail.

After Blake stopped the car, as ordered to by Longley, Longley got out and called 911, Bordner said; Blake then drove his wounded accomplices to a nearby McDonald's restaurant at 4085 Tampa Road, where employees noticed the injured and called 911.

The kidnapping took place at the Aday Motel, 501 Bayview Blvd., in Oldsmar about 11 p.m., Bordner said. Archie Viray, the assistant manager, said Longley did not have a room at the hotel; rather, the 20-year-old, who lives at 7823 Bay Drive, Tampa, was visiting Sean and Alexandra Kerr, who had rented a room, Viray said.

When the three teens arrived, they were looking for a man with whom there had been a dispute over stolen coins, but they kidnapped Longley instead, believing he could lead them to the man they were seeking, Bordner said.

Detectives recovered the gun Longley had taken from Strange plus one Blake threw out the window after the shooting, Bordner said. At least one of the guns was a .38-caliber Smith & Wesson handgun, Blake's jail affidavits say. Blake admitted to the robbery, the affidavits say.

The investigation is continuing, and more charges are expected, Bordner said.

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