Welcome to TBO.com. Skip directly to: our Keyword Search, Section Navigation, Content.

TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

TBO.com - Tampa Bay Online

TBO > News

Wounded St. Pete Detective, Part of Elite Unit, Recovering

News Channel 8 photo by INDIRA LEVINE

The officer was wounded late Monday night near this Exxon station at 3061 First Ave. N.

By YOLANDA FERNANDEZ | News Channel 8
and STEPHEN THOMPSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 27, 2009

Updated: 01/27/2009 05:56 pm

Related Links

James Seay

Shaheed Amad Wright

Desmond John Creary

ST. PETERSBURG - The two undercover detectives just happened to be driving by when they noticed three teens on bicycles acting suspiciously outside an Exxon gas station at about 10:20 p.m. Monday night.

As members of the St. Petersburg Police Department's elite special investigations unit, they had to have been aware of the city's seemingly endless stream of convenience store robberies, some of which have left store clerks or owners doubled-over from gunshot wounds, police officials said Tuesday.

The two summoned other detectives to help out with an impromptu surveillance operation, and patrol officers and a K-9 unit were dispatched to the area as well, St. Petersburg police say.

As the two plainclothes detectives watched, two of the three teens went into the Suncoast Exxon gas station, 3061 First Ave. N., and, their faces concealed, robbed the business at gunpoint.

Neither of the two clerks inside – nor a customer described as a transient – was shot. But in a matter of seconds, one of those undercover detectives was, police said.

Outside, in an alley, the veteran detective either grabbed one of the suspects, a 17-year-old who was watching the bikes, or he confronted the 18-year-old who had just robbed the gas station, when the 18-year-old opened fire, striking the officer at least four times, police said.

The detective, 41, – whom Police Chief Chuck Harmon described as a stellar officer, and a married father of five – was in serious but stable condition at Bayfront Medical Center. This was the second time he was involved in a shooting. In 1994, while working undercover, he shot and wounded a homeless man who had tried to rob him and a partner with a toy gun. The officer was cleared of wrongdoing.

His identity is not being released by The Tampa Tribune due to the undercover nature of his work.

Harmon was with the detective and the detective's family at the hospital. The chief said none of the 19-year veteran's injuries appeared to be life-threatening, but the agency was concerned with the detective's long-term prognosis.

"It's a time for prayers and a time for healing," Harmon said.

The shooting marked the second time in nine months a detective with the special investigations unit was wounded during a surveillance operation. In April, a detective was shot as he tried to stop two men who had just exited a Blockbuster video store after robbing it.

"It's uniquely inherently dangerous," Harmon said of the unit's work. Members wear plainclothes and drive unmarked cars, and keep their identification on a chain around their neck under their clothing, typically pulling it out to identify themselves at the last minute of an operation.

Assistant Police Chief Dave DeKay said the detectives did nothing wrong in the April shoot-out. And Harmon said it appeared none of the detectives in Monday's operation did anything wrong either, though not all the details are in yet, the chief said.

Indeed, the St. Petersburg Police Department views the special investigations unit as such an effective tool it is being doubled as of the end of February, DeKay said, from one sergeant and eight detectives, to two sergeants and 16 detectives.

"If you are talking about violent crimes, these are the guys," DeKay said.

Harmon said it was too early to say if the three arrested Monday night were involved in any previous convenience store armed robberies.

Family members of one of the teens, however, questioned what the undercover detectives did.

The 18-year-old now accused of shooting the officer was identified as James Seay, of Gulfport. He was being held without bail at the Pinellas County Jail on charges of attempted murder of a police officer and armed robbery.

The two other teens -- Shaheed Wright, 16, and Desmond Creary, 17, both of St. Petersburg – were also apprehended after the shooting and charged in the gas station robbery and with attempted murder of a police officer.

After the teens first came to the attention of the two undercover detectives, the detectives watched as the three took their bicycles to an alley across the street from the gas station, police said.

One of the teens – Desmond Creary – stayed behind with the bicycles and served as a look-out while the other two went inside the gas station, according to police records and family members. One was wearing a mask, the other a red bandana, police said.

Mohammed Masud, the owner, was not there at the time but said two clerks and a homeless man were. Masud said two suspects entered with their faces concealed, and one of them pointed a gun in the direction of the chest of one of the clerks, Masud said.

They demanded the money that was in one cash register, asked if there were another cash register, and then left with the cash they were given, along with a porn DVD, Masud said. The same gas station was robbed on Nov. 4, but by different culprits, Masud said.

After the robbery, Seay and Wright ran back to their bicycles, where Creary was waiting, police said. In one account provided by police, the undercover detective grabbed Creary at about this time. That's when Seay approached the detective and shot several rounds from a mid-size caliber handgun, striking the officer several times in the upper and lower body, St. Petersburg police spokesman Bill Proffitt said this morning.

The detective returned fire, but none of the teens was struck.

Seay's jail affidavit, however, says Seay shot the undercover officer when the detective confronted Seay and told him to halt.

After the shooting, the three teens ran, but were arrested. A police dog attacked Seay as he ran, but the wound was described as minor by police. Later, at his first appearance in court, Seay was limping, presumably as a result of the bite.

Police found a handgun they say was Seay's, along with the bandana and the ski mask used in the robbery.

Seay's family came to his defense, saying the allegations were out of character for him.

"I know one thing," said the Rev. Daryl Seay, his uncle. "He wasn't raised like that."

Cousin Carla Seay said he was "a mama's boy," who hung out only with family and played video games all the time. "As a juvenile, he didn't get in no trouble."

"He's not that type of person at all," said Seay's brother, Ferrell Davis, who until recently had been in jail. Davis, who said he was recently released from jail, showed up at a press conference the chief gave at the police department's training building, but was escorted out.

Davis said his brother James had been robbed twice recently and might have been protecting himself or his alleged associate when he fired. "My brother is not the person they're making him out to be in the news," Davis said.

"The way they're blasting him is ridiculous," Kimberly Davis, James Seay's sister, said of her brother. "If you were dressed undercover – they are not in uniform – and you grab my arm, I'm going to defend myself, too."

Ferrell Davis said the only trouble his brother had gotten into concerned school absences. James Seay was enrolled in the Life Skills Center of Pinellas County, a drop-out prevention program, Ferrell Davis said. Creary's mother, Renee Creary, said her son was in the program, too.

Wright's family could not be reached for comment.

The Seay family wondered aloud about the police department's version of events. They wondered why the police dog was sicced on him, and they wondered why the undercover detectives didn't stop the teens before they robbed the gas station.

"I think it's just as much their fault as it is the boys," the Rev. Seay said of the officers' actions.

They also said they hadn't heard from James Seay since his arrest, and wondered they he hasn't called them. "Who's to say they ain't verbally abusing him, if not physically abusing him," said the reverend, a self-described ex-convict.

"He has a mother, too," said Lolitha Seay, another of James Seay's siblings. "She has the right to know."

Creary's mother, Renee, was dumbfounded when told of what her son was accused of doing.

"I'm hearing it but I'm just not believing," said the certified nursing assistant. "It's just shocking to me." She said her son had been in some minor trouble before involving a B-B gun.

"My son – he really is a good person," Renee Creary said. "He's obedient to us – do what we say," she said, referring to herself and her husband, Creary's father.

Renee Creary said her heart went out to the officer and his family.

"I'm really sorry about what happened to the police officer," she said, "I pray for him and his family. I know he was doing his job."

Reporter Stephen Thompson can be reached at (727) 451-2336 or spthompson@tampatrib.com.

Share this:

* To:
Your Name:
Your Email Address:
Personal Message [optional]: