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Man arrested in connection with St. Pete park shooting

News Channel 8 photo by TODD DAVIS

A group of teenagers and young adults were hanging out at the park when a fight broke out between two individuals, St. Petersburg police spokesman Bill Proffitt said.

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

Published: April 22, 2009

Updated: 04/22/2009 05:15 pm

ST. PETERSBURG - Police have arrested a man in connection with the shooting out a teen in a park outside the Childs Park Recreation Center on Tuesday.

Investigators believe Rayni Adams, 19, was seen firing into a crowd following a fight, said St. Petersburg police spokesman George Kajtsa.

Police have determined that 16-year-old Jawaun Emmanual Holloway, of 1702 43rd St. S., was an innocent bystander. He was shot in the upper body.

Adams faces charges of aggravated assault. Police have not yet determined if the bullets from the gun were the same ones that hit Holloway, Kajtsa said. Police say other charges are pending.

Holloway attends Life Skills Center of Pinellas County, a charter school, Pinellas County school district spokeswoman Andrea Zahn said.

A group of teenagers and young adults were hanging out at the park when a fight broke out between two individuals, St. Petersburg police spokesman Bill Proffitt said.

During the fight, another individual, presumably an associate or friend of one of the fighters, starting firing a handgun into the crowd, police said. People started fleeing, and Holloway was struck by two rounds, Proffitt said.

Holloway is recuperating at Bayfront Medical Center and is expected to survive his injuries. He was listed in good condition this afternoon, a hospital spokeswoman said. His aunt, Sylvia Blair, said he was "doing good." She did not know the details of his wounds.

The teen was discovered with gunshot wounds to his upper body when police responded about 8:45 p.m. to a report of shots fired at the park, 4301 13th Ave. S.

Holloway has been cooperative, as have several people in the area at the time, but police are asking others with information to come forward, Proffitt said.

Tanya Fowler, a private nurse, said her 9-year-old daughter, accompanied by an adult cousin, was inside the recreation center at the time of the shooting. Her daughter is terrified, Fowler said, so Fowler has decided to not to enroll her three children in a camp at the center as she had planned.

Thomas Brown, who lives nearby, said his son goes to the park often.

"I got a 12-year-old son and he come out here and play basketball and I worry about him every day," said Brown. "He hear gunshots he come in the house. but other kids out here get shot. Innocent people die."

"It's just sad we got one more person shot last night," Brown said. "The violence really needs to stop.''

The NAACP had already planned a march Saturday for another innocent casualty of south St. Petersburg's street violence – 8-year-old Paris Whitehead-Hamilton, who was killed April 5 when a group in a car fired on the house where she lived. The organization is also forming a task force with church and youth groups to combat the violence.

"If young people are not gainfully employed, not in mentorship, not involved in something constructive, they're going to get in something destructive," said the Rev. Charles McKenzie, a spokesperson for the organization. "They're going to join gangs."

"I think it's governmental agencies, the police force, the community leaders, it is all of us that have to come together to address this problem," McKenzie said. "Right now is when the bell is sounding and we've got to step up to the plate in a hurry."

Dominique Phillips, a friend of Holloway's, was upset about what happened, but vowed not to escalate matters.

"I am very upset but I'm not going to take matters into my own hand I'm going to let the police do their job, " Phillips said.

Reporter Stephen Thompson can be reached at (727) 451-2336. Reporter Yolanda Fernandez can be reached at (727) 451-2334.

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