Shootings leave 3 dead, 2 hurt in rural North Florida county

FINAL Sunday, August 25, 2013 Orlando Sentinel
| Sunday Local News | B3
Local News
Rollins students spread their volunteer spirit
By Ludmilla Lelis
Staff Writer
An arts-and-crafts table
had a ready-made formula
for the Rollins College students to interact with peers
who have autism and other
disorders.
Enjoying a morning with
the pipe cleaners, glitter glue
and construction paper,
20-year-old Zachary Carter
of Ocoee reveled in the attention from the students.
“Just the interaction he’s
having with them, that
they’re taking the time on a
Saturday with them, shows
they care,” said Zachary’s
mother, Gina Carter.
About 15 students met
with Zach Carter and others
enrolled at the nonprofit
OCA — Opportunity, Community, Ability — that offers
after-school programs, Special Olympics training,
camps and vocational training for those with autism and
other disorders.
Their visit was one of 30
volunteer projects for more
than 600 Rollins College students, organized under their
program, SPARC, which
stands for Service Passion
Action Rollins College.
“The idea is to have students light their spark and
find a purpose in the community,” said Elissa DeCampli, a 22-year-old senior. Saturday morning saw other
students volunteering at the
Mustard Seed furniture and
clothing bank, the Coalition
for the Homeless and Grand
Avenue Primary Learning
Center.
And there were many lessons for the Rollins students,
too.
“It’s really amazing working with these kids because
they don’t make judgments,”
said Emma Wookey, a
19-year-old sophomore majoring in psychology. “They
are happy about the littlest
things, and it really puts
things into perspective.”
llelis@tribune.com
JOSHUA C. CRUEY/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Rollins College student Caroline Hodson, 18, does arts and
crafts with Giles Connolly, 16, in Orlando on Saturday at an
Opportunity, Community, Ability program.
Prayers
said for
missing
woman
By Rene Stutzman
and Desiree Stennett
Staff Writers
JOSHUA C. CRUEY/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Chasing victory at 5K challenge
Taylor Shoulders makes the turn in front of UCF’s CFE Arena during the Orlando Health Gridiron 5K Challenge on Saturday morning. Shoulders
won the event in a time of 17:58. The top women’s finisher was Janna Edwards, with a time of 21:12. Photo gallery: OrlandoSentinel.com
Shootings leave 3 dead, 2 hurt
in rural North Florida county
By Desiree Stennett
Staff Writer
Three people are dead and two
others were critically injured after
a disgruntled former employee of
a trucking company went on a
shooting spree Saturday in a rural
North Florida county southwest
of Jacksonville, authorities said.
The suspected gunman in
Union County was 72-year-old
Hubert Allen Jr., reportedly the
stepgrandfather of Buffalo Bills
running back C.J. Spiller. He killed
himself after the shootings, police
said.
Allen went to Pritchett Trucking — where he had been a longtime employee — at 9 a.m. Saturday, according to the Union
County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies
said Allen no longer worked for
the company.
Allen encountered a former coworker, 28-year-old Ronaldo Gonzales-Delgado. He shot and killed
the man before tracking down the
80-year-old owner of the company, Marvin Pritchett, and killing
him as well, deputies said.
Allen then left the crime scene
and confronted another former
co-worker who was driving a trac-
tor along County Road 18A in
Union County, authorities said.
Allen pulled over and after a brief
conversation with 66-year-old
Lewis Mabrey Jr., Allen shot him
in his left arm and side with a
shotgun, deputies said. Mabrey
was transported to Shands Hospital in Gainesville. He is in stable
condition, officials said.
Allen then moved on to another
Pritchett Trucking location near
Lake Butler, also in Union County,
to continue his crime spree, deputies said.
There he fired at former coworker David Griffis, 44, who was
shot in the stomach and is in critical condition, deputies said. Griffis also was taken to Shands.
After that shooting, deputies
said, Allen went back to his home
near the Lake Butler crime scene
and killed himself.
Investigators have not been
able to say what prompted the
shooting spree.
The Florida Department of
Law Enforcement and several
other agencies are assisting with
the investigation.
dstennett@tribune.com
or 407-420-5447
Local briefing
Orlando cops arrest
Georgia escapee
Man gets life for
killing 2 in Volusia
Deputies release sketch in 2012 killing
A man who escaped from a
Georgia jail in
July was arrested
last week in Orlando, accused of
“illegal camping”
near police headquarters. Emory
Gibson III escaped from the AtGibson
kinson County
Jail, where he was serving time
for robbery by snatching and interference with an officer. Reports say he escaped because of
“employee error and rule violations.” Gibson was sleeping on a
sidewalk Tuesday.
A jury on Friday found a Palm
Coast man guilty
of a double homicide in Ormondby-the-Sea in November 2009.
Lonnie Redner,
35, was convicted
of two counts of
Redner
first-degree murder and other
crimes. Redner killed Mike Floyd
and Andrew Kakowski in their
home on Nov. 11, 2009. Redner
stabbed and tried to chop Floyd’s
head before shooting him with a
.38-caliber gun. Redner shot Kakowski. He was sentenced to
four consecutive life terms.
Ludmilla Lelis
Deputies are asking for the public’s help in solving the 2012 slaying of
an Orange County man. A sketch was released Wednesday of a man
linked to the killing of Narindra Ramkumar, 18, who was shot in the parking
lot of 1231 Barefoot Bay Drive in the
Island Cove South neighborhood at
8:15 p.m. on June 29, 2012. The individual is described as a person of interest. He
Sketch shows man linked to
was seen driving away in a blue Honda
the killing of Ramkumar, left.
CRV, according to the Orange County
Sheriff’s Office. Anyone with information is asked to call Crimeline at
407-423-8477.
Kevin P. Connolly
Kevin P. Connolly
Man charged with
Apopka-area murder
Polk County deputy
accused of lewd acts
Orlando woman
hit, killed by train
One man is dead and another
is in jail after a
shooting Friday
near Apopka, the
Orange County
Sheriff ’s Office
said. Darrion
Pugh, 30, was outside his apartment at 1138 Old
Orr
Apopka Road
when Antonio Orr, 40, shot him
at 5:45 p.m., deputies said. Pugh
was taken to Florida Hospital
Apopka before he died, a spokeswoman said. Orr was charged
with first-degree murder.
A Polk County deputy who attempted to hang
himself with his
underwear has
resigned following an arrest on
charges of using a
computer to solicit a minor to commit lewd activity
Hicks
and other sex-related crimes. Mark Hicks, 40, is
accused of carrying on a relationship with a 17-year-old girl for
about one month prior to his Friday arrest. The girl told police
that Hicks groped her through
her clothing earlier this month.
An Orlando woman was hit
and killed by a train Friday near
Altamonte Springs, the Florida
Highway Patrol said. Diane Maddox, 53, was walking across the
train tracks near Williams and
Marker streets. Train driver
Daniel Andrew Hart, 41, of Orlando blew the horn to alert
Maddox, but she didn’t get off
the tracks before the left portion
of the engine hit her, according to
an FHP report. The train was
traveling at about 50 mph.
Jerriann Sullivan,
Susan Jacobson
Desiree Stennett
Jerriann Sullivan
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Myranda Whisenant Southern’s friends and family are hoping for good news about the
missing woman.
About 30 people held a vigil
Saturday for the South Carolina
woman, who left
her children with
her mother in
northwest Orange
County before
vanishing.
“It’s been horrible,” said longtime
friend Southern
Amanda Fuchs.
“We just want her back.”
Fuchs and others gathered at
Cranes Roost Park in Altamonte
Springs, prayed for her safe return and sang “Amazing Grace.”
Southern has not been heard
from since early Monday, shortly
after she left the night shift at a
cable-television office in suburban Greenville, S.C., where she
works.
She grew up in the Orlando
area and graduated from Lake
Mary High School.
Her 10-year-old son and
8-year-old daughter had spent
the week with her mother in
Zellwood. She was to pick them
up Tuesday.
Deputies:
Pizza man
kills felon
Florida Today
A late-night pizza delivery in
West Melbourne ended in gunfire
Friday when the driver shot and
killed a felon during an armed robbery, according to the Brevard
County Sheriff’s Office.
Fredrick Lorenza Kelly Jr., 34,
was shot once and pronounced
dead in the Days Inn parking lot,
4500 W. New Haven. Kelly’s body
was transported to
the
Brevard
County Medical
Examiner’s Office
for autopsy.
After Byron
Park, 54, of Palm
Bay made a delivery to the hotel Kelly
near midnight and
returned to his vehicle, Kelly confronted Park, demanded money
and threatened him with a knife, a
report said.
Park used a firearm he carries in
his vehicle to defend himself by
firingoncetowardKelly,according
to a Sheriff’s Office email statement.
“Kelly demanded money from
Park and threatened to kill him if
he did not comply,” the report said.
Kelly had a violent criminal
past, including arrests for armed
robbery, aggravated battery and
false imprisonment.
Records show he was convicted
of those charges in 2001 and sentenced to 10 years in prison. He
entered state prison in July 2001
and was released in July 2009, records show.
The shooting remains under investigation.
But it appears the shooting was
justifiable self-defense, Brevard
County Sheriff Wayne Ivey said in
a statement.
Anyone with information is
urged to call the Brevard County
Sheriff’s Office Homicide Unit at
321-633-8413 or CrimeLine at
800-423-8477.
Kevin P. Connolly contributed.