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Shot is fired at deputy

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 14, 2009

TAMPA - A suspect's bullet blazed through the windshield of a sheriff's cruiser Friday, barely missing a deputy's head.

Deputy Paulo Santos-Rizzo suffered minor injuries when he was struck by flying glass, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office said.

Deputies arrested the man they say fired the bullet but were searching for a second suspect.

Santos-Rizzo, a three-year veteran, was in his patrol car establishing a perimeter about 4 a.m. as other deputies investigated a report of two people breaking into cars at Shadow Oaks Apartments, 13901 N. Florida Ave., sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter said.

A canine handler spotted a suspect next to a van at 13621 N. Florida Ave. Deputies told him to stop, but he fired a shot and fled.

Santos-Rizzo, 30, did not return fire.

A police dog found an armed Jeffrey Lee Ervin, 21, hiding behind a home on Capital Drive, Carter said. Ervin faces two counts of attempted first-degree murder of a law enforcement officer and one count each of obstructing or opposing an officer with violence, carrying a concealed firearm and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Shooting victim identifies suspect

It wasn't hard to identify the man who fatally shot someone outside a Citgo gas station Wednesday night, Hillsborough County deputies say.

The victim, Anthony J. Prather, told a witness and a deputy, "Chris shot me. He is the last one who called my cell phone," the sheriff's office said.

The incident was captured on video. Christopher Grim's fingerprints matched a print on Prather's car, deputies say, and a call was made from Grim's phone to Prather minutes before Prather was shot in the neck.

Grim, 19, is wanted on a second-degree murder charge. He is white, 5 feet, 1 inch and has brown eyes and black hair.

Shortly after Prather arrived at the gas station on East Fletcher Avenue, Grim walked to the car and entered it, deputies say. Shots were fired and Grim ran.

Prather walked to the front of the gas station and collapsed. He died at Tampa General Hospital.

The incident may be drug-related, the sheriff's office said.

A staff report

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