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Bail Revoked In Fatal Brandon Nightclub Shooting

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By THOMAS W. KRAUSE

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 12, 2008

  Tyrone Grimes

TAMPA - A judge revoked bail Thursday for a man facing murder and attempted murder charges after sheriff's deputies said he threatened a witness with a gun and had smoked marijuana.

Tyrone Lamont Grimes, 28, had been released on $165,000 bail. Now he must remain in jail until the case is resolved.

Grimes' murder and attempted murder charges stem from an October incident at a Brandon bar.

Hillsborough County sheriff's deputies have said Grimes fired three shots from a handgun inside Fluid, a nightclub that was at 2016 Town Center Blvd.

Bystander Karen Williams, a 36-year-old mother of three, was killed.

Grimes spent three months hiding in Miami before turning himself in.

In an interview with The Tampa Tribune, Grimes said he was not the shooter. He said a fight broke out and he was attacked, and struggled with two men over a gun. He said he never took possession of the gun.

Thursday, Jayfrey Williams, who is not related to Karen Williams, testified that he is expected to be a witness against Grimes at trial. Williams said he was at the club that night and is the victim in the attempted murder charge against Grimes.

On Aug. 26, Williams testified, he was walking his daughter to school when he saw Grimes pull through his apartment complex parking lot staring at him. Two days later, Grimes again pulled through the parking lot.

"I looked back, and I saw Tyrone Grimes drive by with the window down," Williams testified. "In his hand was a semiautomatic, black handgun."

Grimes waved it back and forth then drove off, Williams testified. Another man at the complex, Frank Everett, testified that he saw the same thing.

Grimes' brother and his 6-year-old niece testified that Grimes was at the apartment complex to pick up his niece for school. The brother and niece said Grimes came and left without pointing a gun at anyone.

When sheriff's deputies questioned Grimes about the allegation, they found several grams of marijuana in his house and a digital scale in his wife's car - the same car the witnesses said he drove to the apartment complex.

Circuit Judge Daniel Sleet said he was not trying to determine whether the evidence supported Grimes' new charges: tampering with a witness, improper exhibition of a weapon, being a felon in possession of a handgun, and possession of marijuana. Instead, Sleet was trying to determine whether Grimes violated the terms of the bail granted to him in the murder case.

Sleet said he did not think Grimes' brother and niece were lying but probably did not see everything that happened that morning. Everett, Sleet said, was an impartial witness who corroborated Williams' story.

"You violated the conditions of your release, one of which was to use common sense," Sleet told Grimes. "You don't commit another crime."

Family members of Karen Williams, who had opposed the initial bail set for Grimes, cheered in the courthouse hallways after Sleet's ruling.

Reporter Thomas W. Krause can be reached at (813) 259-7698 or tkrause@tampatrib.com.

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