Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Robbery plan gone awry led to slaying, officers say

A Tampa man who police say was the target of thieves is charged with murder.

By SHANNON COLAVECCHIO-VAN SICKLER
Published November 16, 2005

TAMPA - Investigators say David Clifford Simpson and a carload of accomplices set out Monday night intent on robbery, but Simpson ended up dead when one of the targets started shooting.

Tuesday, sheriff's detectives booked 21-year-old Joseph Lushington Garrell of Tampa into the county jail. They charged him with first-degree murder in the killing of Simpson, 20, and with attempted first-degree murder in the shooting of Antonio Ramsay, 19.

It was Garrell's first arrest in Florida, according to state records.

The confrontation began about 9 p.m. Monday at 50th Street and Fletcher Avenue.

There, two groups of men clashed in an apparent robbery attempt. Simpson, Ramsay and two other men were in a Chevrolet Cavalier. Garrell was in a Nissan Maxima driven by 23-year-old Franz Nicholas Cargill, detectives said. Nothing was taken.

Cargill and Garrell fled, then followed Simpson's vehicle down Fletcher Avenue to the McDonald's at 22nd Street, sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter said.

In the McDonald's parking lot, Cargill rammed the Maxima into the Cavalier, according to a sheriff's report. Garrell got out of the passenger's side of the Maxima and started firing, Carter said. Bullets hit Simpson in the upper torso and Ramsay in the right shoulder.

It was 9:35 p.m. Patrons were inside the restaurant and outside in the drive-through line.

Becky Wodrich was ordering food for her family when she heard a "pop-pop-pop-pop." She said it sounded like a firecracker.

Simpson staggered to the drive-through, where he collapsed and died.

Soon after, sheriff's patrol cars streamed into the parking lot. Passers-by, including small children, stood in the Church's Chicken parking lot next door, staring at Simpson's body.

The Cavalier driver, whose identity is being withheld because he is a witness, took Ramsay to University Community Hospital. Ramsay remains at UCH in good condition. A fourth man in the Cavalier ran off before deputies got to the McDonald's, Carter said.

Within hours of the shooting, detectives named Garrell a suspect. During questioning, he admitted shooting Simpson and Ramsay, Carter said.

Authorities were still seeking Cargill Tuesday.

Carter said the robbery attempt was "drug-related."

Cargill, Garrell and Ramsay have no history of drug arrests in Florida, nor did Simpson, according to state records.

Times staff writer Rebecca Catalanello and researcher Cathy Wos contributed to this report. Shannon Colavecchio-Van Sickler can be reached at 813 226-3373 or svansickler@sptimes.com

[Last modified November 16, 2005, 01:09:18]