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Aunt of shooting victim says nephew likely was preaching

News Channel 8 photo by ANTHONY ALLRED

Crime scene tape and a police cruiser block off part of the parking lot at Compton Place apartments in New Tampa.

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By JEFF PATTERSON | News Channel 8
and JOSH POLTILOVE | The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 13, 2009

Updated: 07/13/2009 01:16 pm

TAMPA - Because it was so close to the Fourth of July, Matthew King thought at first that the explosions outside his New Tampa apartment were firecrackers.

It became obvious that the noises were gunshots.

King briefly waited inside his apartment, then looked out and saw a man laying on the ground bleeding. After trying to help, King said, it became clear the man was dead.

Police are still investigating Sunday night's fatal shooting of Carlos Humberto Ibanez Arias. Authorities say the 72-year-old resident at an apartment complex told them he shot someone trying to break into his apartment on Coral Bay Road.

Arias' aunt said her nephew would never break into a home and that he likely was trying to preach about Jesus Christ.

No 911 calls were made prior to the shooting, police spokeswoman Andrea Davis said. Asked whether there was any physical evidence that Arias was trying to break into the home, Davis said that is part of an ongoing investigation.

About 9:30 p.m. Sunday, King heard what sounded like a person barking like a dog. Then he heard banging and the series of shots. After seeing Arias, 37, on the ground near the door of the Compton Place apartment, King said he called 911.

A dispatcher wanted King to perform CPR, but when he performed chest compressions, Arias didn't have a heartbeat, King said. Arias was bleeding profusely.

"At that point, I knew he was gone," King said.

Police say they don't believe Arias knew the man who shot him, 72-year-old Marcos Antonio Trujillo.

In a phone interview today with the Tribune, Arias' aunt, 65-year-old Gloria Beauchamp, said her nephew isn't the kind of person who would break into a home.

He found Jesus Christ as his savior in recent weeks and wanted others to know about Jesus, she said.

"If there was a perfect man on this Earth, it was my nephew," she said.

Arias moved to the area for work and had been doing graphics for a 7th day Adventist church, she said. He left behind two children, ages 3 and 5.

In February, Beauchamp is going to Israel. Arias told her he wanted to be baptized in the Jordan River, and he told her he wanted the whole apartment complex to know about Jesus.

"It's a very crazy world, and you have to keep it to yourself these days," she said.

Arias was shot in the upper body, police said. Tampa Fire Rescue workers tried to resuscitate him, but Arias died from his injuries.

Police identified Trujillo as the shooter.

Before the shooting, Arias was banging on Trujillo's window and "saying things," police spokeswoman Andrea Davis said.

Despite what Trujillo told police, Beauchamp said her nephew wouldn't break into homes: "When you try to break in, you don't make noise."

Any 911 calls following the shooting won't be released to the media because they are part of an ongoing investigation, Davis said.

Trujillo has a concealed weapons permit.

Florida's "Castle Doctrine" allows people to defend themselves if threatened in their homes.

Police don't expect a decision until next week as to whether the shooting was justified.

CLARIFICATION (July 20, 2009): A 911 call was made from an apartment prior to a fatal shooting there Sunday, but the person hung up before speaking to police. By the time police determined the call had been made from the home, Carlos Humberto Ibanez Arias already had been shot, police spokeswoman Andrea Davis said today.

Reporter Josh Poltilove can be reached at (813) 259-7691.

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