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Boy's Shooter Probably Erred

By RAY REYES rreyes@tampatrib.com and JEFF PATTERSON jpatterson@wfla.com

The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 25, 2009

TAMPA - When Tasha Hagins heard the gunshots Monday night, her maternal instinct kicked into overdrive.

"My son!" she screamed, then sprinted out of her Seffner apartment where, a few minutes before, 14-year-old Sauvallie Hagins Jr. told his mother he was taking out the trash.

Hagins saw her son bent over and leaning on a car.

"Baby, you got shot?" she shouted as she gathered Sauvallie's crumpled body in her arms and laid him on the ground.

She grabbed his hand. She told him to be strong, stay calm, keep talking.

Sauvallie was shot three times about 8:30 p.m. Monday. He was taken to Tampa General Hospital and underwent four hours of surgery. At a news conference Tuesday afternoon outside the hospital, Hagins said her son was shot in the stomach, leg and groin area.

Sauvallie remained in serious condition Tuesday. Deputies have yet to find the shooter.

The bullets probably were not meant for him.

Davontae Davis, a teenager who also lives in the apartments at 5005 Claymore Drive, said he thinks he was the shooter's intended target. About three weeks ago, Davis said, a person claimed Davis stole something from him.

Davis said the person must have followed him home.

"I told my neighbor, 'Man, you better run, I think they're gonna shoot,'" Davis said outside his apartment today. "But he just laughed at me, thinking that it wasn't that serious. By the time I looked out my window, I seen him falling."
Deputies were searching for the shooter near the apartments, east of Interstate 75 and south of Hillsborough Avenue.

"Right now, all we know is that according to some interviews, they said that there had been an ongoing dispute among some kids in the neighborhood, in the apartment complex, not gang-related, but an ongoing dispute, and it's possibly related to the shooting," sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter said.

Sauvallie doesn't appear to have been involved, Carter said.

Tribune reporter Josh Poltilove and researcher Michael Messano contributed to this report. Reporter Ray Reyes can be reached at (813) 259-7920. Reporter Jeff Patterson can be reached at (813) 221-5703.

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