Page 3 - 6-5-15 Friday's Edition

Features
Arrest Made In Connection With Teen’s Murder
On Monday night, Tampa Police arrested a 16-year-old in connection to the Sunday shooting death of 14-year-old Edward Harris, IV. Harris was shot to death as he stood near a vehicle talking to friends at Woodland Terrace Park.
After the shooting, police released surveillance footage of a vehicle they believed was involved in the shooting. That vehicle, a silver Infiniti, was spotted by patrol officers and the driver, 16-year-old Cacedric Mathis, led them on a chase before he was ar- rested near 32nd Street and Wilder Avenue.
Detectives said the vehicle is registered to a woman in Ocala, and report that it is the
CACEDRIC MATHIS ...was driving suspect car.
same vehicle that was seen going down Diana Street be- fore a passenger opened fire killing Harris.
Assistant Police Chief Mary O’Connor said they cannot rule out as a suspect, but they do not have enough
EDWARD HARRIS, IV .....shot to death at Woodland Terrace Park.
information to charge him at this time with murder.
Mathis is being held in the Hillsborough Juvenile Deten- tion Center on a charge of felony aggravated fleeing to elude.
Officials Investigating How Autistic Teen Suffered Broken Arm
Ms. Tara Wallace said she and her family relocated to the Temple Terrace area in December 2014, and her autistic son, 13-year-old Joshua Hamm, enrolled to attend Greco Middle School.
Ms. Wallace explains that as a symptom of her son’s austism, he sometimes mi- mics what he sees others doing.
“On Tuesday, Joshua was in school and I was told he wanted a band-aid because his teacher had one. I got a call from the school saying he was having a bad day, and that he was being sent home.
“My health isn’t that good and the last thing I needed was stress and to be worried about my son.”
Ms. Wallace said when Joshua arrived home, his arm was wrapped, he spoke to her, asked her how was her day, then laid down and went to sleep.
“Later, I heard him screaming that his arm was hurting. At first I thought it was all part of him being autistic. But when I took the wrap off of his arm, it was swollen. We took him to the hospital, and doctors said his arm was broken in two places.
“When I asked Joshua what happened, he said an of- ficer at the school broke his arm while handcuffing him.”
Ms. Wallace said be- cause Joshua came home from school with a blackeye once, she’s always believed that he was being abused at the school.
“I gave the people at his school specific instructions to not give him extra food, be- cause he’s on a restrictive diet for his weight. Then I found out a teacher gave him cook-
JOSHUA HAMM
ies and told him not to tell anyone.
“Joshua is scared and doesn’t want to go back to Greco.”
School District spokesper- son Steve Hegarty said they are investigating the incident and Children Protective Ser- vices were called and they are also investigating.
“When I was called that Joshua was being sent home, no one mentioned his arm was broken,” said Ms. Wallace.
Temple Terrace Police De- partment spokesperson, Michael Dunn said they were contacted about Joshua’s broken arm, and they’ve spoken to officials.
“We’re not sure this is a police matter at this time. I can’t confirm anything and no report has been generated. Right now, we’re relying on the school district for infor- mation.”
Hegarty said the officer that was removed from the school pending the investiga- tion is not a School Resource Officer, but a School Security Officer who works for the Dis- trict.
Fire Claims Life Of ‘Hero’ Who Tried To Save His Family
On Saturday, May 30th at 8 p. m., Linda Donaldson, her son, Lekai Donaldson, her daughter Coretta, and Coretta’s three children were sitting in their apartment at 1611 East 26th Avenue in Bel- mont Heights Estates.
Lekai, 21, left the apart- ment and went outside. While he was gone, a fire erupted in- side the apartment. Fortu- nately, Ms. Donaldson, Coretta, and the three small children jumped from a sec- ond-floor window and escaped without injury.
According to Tampa Fire Rescue, when Lekai returned to the apartment, he saw smoke and flames coming from the apartment and not
LEKAI DONALDSON
knowing his family had already escaped, he ran inside to save them.
TFR spokesperson Jason Penny said Lekai was over-
come by the heat and smoke, and when units arrived they removed him from the apart- ment.
Efforts to resuscitate him weren’t successful and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Penny said the apartment suffered $10,000 in damage, and the loss of personal pro- perty inside the apartment was also valued at $10,000.
Tampa Fire Rescue person- nel all said Lekai committed a heroic act in entering the building to save his family, putting his own life at risk.
Penny said the cause of the fire appears to be a stick of incense that apparently set the sofa on fire.
FRIDAY, JUNE 5, 2015 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY PAGE 3-A