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Wedding reception erupts in violence

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By JOSH POLTILOVE

jpoltilove@tampatrib.com

Published: November 10, 2009

TAMPA - Tasha Johnson and Markeith Brown exchanged vows.

And the wedding party exchanged blows.

By the time the night was over, the groom's 74-year-old grandmother had been choked and his father had been punched in the nose.

Police say the reception Sunday at the Rusty Pelican restaurant went south when Brown began tossing money on the dance floor and watching children scurry to get the bills. One of the guests griped and was confronted by Brown and the groom's brother.

Here comes the brawl.

Shoving spilled over to a fight in the parking lot.

One person, reportedly drunk, ended up on the ground.

An accusation that the person had been hit with a brick led to more fighting. (The injured person refused to cooperate with police or fire rescue personnel.)

Officer Mike White was struck by errant blows, but not injured, when he arrived to break up a fracas involving 30 to 40 people.

Action then shifted to a parking lot at Residence Inn on Boy Scout Boulevard.

After getting a call that Brown and Brown's brother had hit his cousin with a brick, Malcolm Anthony Hepburn armed himself with a stolen .40-caliber pistol and drove to the hotel, where he punched and kicked the groom's father, police say.

Brown's grandmother, meanwhile, was choked by a woman. Police said they had identified but not arrested the attacker Monday.

Hepburn, 30, was arrested on charges of battery, grand theft with a firearm, carrying a concealed firearm and being a felon in possession of a firearm, police say. He was released after posting $13,500 bail.

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

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