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Police chief: Fistfight started feud that claimed 8-year-old

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By STEPHEN THOMPSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: April 7, 2009

Updated: 04/07/2009 04:12 pm

ST. PETERSBURG - Police Chief Chuck Harmon today released the sequence of escalating events that led to Sunday's drive-by shooting that claimed the life of an 8-year-old girl, while the girl's family urged the members of the two warring groups involved to stop their cycle of revenge.

Harmon said a feud started five to six weeks ago after a man named Gregory Wright, 22, got the better of Markeath Fielder, 19, in a fistfight.

Then, on Saturday night, at about 10:30 p.m., Fielder fired off at least one round from a handgun at Wright in the 1300 block of 18th Avenue South, Harmon said.

Fielder apparently retreated to a house at 771 Preston Ave. S. where, at 2:20 a.m. Sunday, a pack of gunmen drove up in a car and fired off more than 50 rounds, St. Petersburg police said. Eight-year-old Paris Whitehead-Hamilton was there, too, and was shot three times in the back as she fled from her bedroom.

After the shooting, as investigators pieced together what happened, they found out about the Saturday night shooting, which was not reported to police, said St. Petersburg police spokesman Bill Proffitt.

Fielder, of 4339 Sixth St. S., was arrested Monday night on a charge off aggravated assault in connection with the Saturday night shooting, Pinellas Jail records show. Wright has not been charged, and he was not among the four who were in the car during the drive-by.

One of the four, Stephen Harper, 18, was taken into custody Sunday night on a charge of being a principal to a first-degree murder. Harmon said detectives know who the other three are but will not release their names until authorities have exhausted their efforts to track them down.

The four are believed to be associated with the Bethel Heights neighborhood, while Fielder and his group are associated with the Harbordale neighborhood, St. Petersburg police say. Harper, for instance, has a tattoo that says bh4-life, the bh apparently referring to Bethel Heights.

Oddly, some members of the Harbordale group, such as Fielder, are known to hang out at the Preston Avenue South address, which technically is in a neighborhood different from the two – it is the Bartlett Park neighborhood. The Bartlett Park Crime Watch is scheduled to have a meeting tonight to discuss the Whitehead-Hamilton shooting, and Harmon is expected to attend.

Harper, the lone suspect charged thus far, is unemployed and receives food stamps, court records show. His criminal history began when he was nine or 10, and he was last arrested in February after he fled from police, forcing cars off the road as he drove in the oncoming lane on Fourth Street, court records say. He was also charged with marijuana possession in connection with that case.

In the Preston Avenue South shooting, he has cooperated with police, said Assistant Police Chief Dave DeKay. His arrest affidavit says he admitted to loading a clip of new ammunition into one weapon before the shooting and putting several large weapons in the car beforehand.

He also admitted taking the weapons afterward and storing them in a location different from where they were retrieved. Detectives found them in an undisclosed St. Petersburg apartment. They are: two AR-15 semi-automatic assault rifles, two .12 gauge pump shotguns with pistol grips, and a .308 caliber hunting rifle with a scope.

Also confiscated were two magazines for an AK-47 assault rifle, but no rifle for which the ammunition would be used was found, detectives said. There was also a magazine for the AR-15s.

Proffitt, the spokesman, said the weapons will be forensically analyzed to ensure they were the ones used in the drive-by. Laboratory analysts will also attempt to glean from the firearms fingerprints and DNA samples.

Harmon said his agency will be working with the U.S. Attorney's Office, which is always interested when there are incidents where guns and violence have come into play, and where neighborhood groups are to blame.

Whitehead-Hamilton was killed when at least 50 rounds blasted the Preston Avenue South house. She later died Sunday morning at the Bayfront Center.

Whitehead-Hamilton's cousin, LaShawn Crawford, spoke on behalf of the family following a press conference given by Harmon.

"It's a sad tragedy that's occurred, but we're going to get through this," she said. "She was a smart little girl. … We're just gonna miss her."

Crawford said there was "the mentality" on the street that Whitehead-Hamilton was not the intended target, but she wasn't accepting it. She said if a group of men unloads more than 50 rounds at a house, "you want someone to be killed," she said.

Still, she was urging the young men involved to stop their cycle of violence. She admitted there was much sadness and anger among Whitehead-Hamilton's people, but she urged them to stay positive.

"The getting back to get even, it stops here," she said.

And she was urging anyone touched by Whitehead-Hamilton's premature death to donate a book to their local library, as a testimony to the second-grader's love for reading.

Harper – who is unemployed and receives food stamps – has cooperated with police, said Assistant Police Chief Dave DeKay. His arrest affidavit says he admitted to loading a clip of new ammunition into one weapon before the shooting and putting several large weapons in the car beforehand.

He also admitted taking the weapons afterwards and storing them in a location different from where they were originally taken, jail affidavits say.

Investigators recovered the weapons from an undisclosed St. Petersburg apartment. Today police put them on display. They are: two AR-15 semi-automatic rifles, two 12 gauge pump shotguns with pistol grips, and a .308 caliber hunting rifle with a scope.

Also confiscated were two magazines for an AK-47 rifle, but no rifle for which the ammunition would be used was found, detectives said. There was also a magazine for the AR-15s.

Whitehead-Hamilton was killed when at least 50 rounds from the rifle blasted the Preston Avenue South house. She later died Sunday morning at the Bayfront Center.

Whitehead-Hamilton's cousin, LaShawn Crawford, spoke on behalf of the family following a press conference given by Chief Harmon.

"It's a sad tragedy that's occurred, but we're going to get through this," she said. "She was a smart little girl … We're just gonna miss her."

Crawford said there was "the mentality" on the street that Whitehead-Hamilton was not the intended target, but she wasn't accepting it. She said if a group of men unload more than 50 rounds at a house, "you want someone to be killed," she said.

Still, she was urging the young men involved to stop their cycle of violence. She admitted there was much sadness and anger among Whitehead-Hamilton's people, but she urged them to stay positive.

"The getting back to get even, it stops here," she said.

And she was urging anyone touched by Whitehead-Hamilton's premature death to donate a book to their local library, as a testimony to the second-grader's love for reading.

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