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Student killed during attempted home invasion
Ken Suarez reports
TAMPA, Fla. - When Gaither High School students go back to school after their winter vacation on Tuesday, their minds may be on more than just the books.
One of their classmates was killed Saturday night during an attempted home invasion at an apartment complex on Citrus Falls Circle Saturday night. Another was shot and critically injured.
Hillsborough County investigators say four students were involved, but only two tried to enter the home. The other two were being questioned.
“They had to have some reason for doing it. It could have been a practical joke. Some prank like that. The fact they lost their life, sad. Tragic,” neighbor Ray Wyllins said.
A classmate of the suspects told FOX 13 he didn’t know the boys well, but he knows who they are.
“There are other crowds at Gaither that would do something like that, but not those kind of guys. Those guys are kind of jokesters,” the classmate said.
Detectives say the boys got into the gated community, ripped through a screen to get onto a patio, and then two of them slipped through an open door.
A man and his fiancé were inside. The man was armed and opened fire on the intruders.
Wyllins said the community is typically quiet.
“I have been here for five years. I have never seen anything. Period. Especially like the catastrophe that happened the other night,” he said.
Investigators have not released the names of the teens. No charges have been announced.
They also have not identified the homeowner or his female partner.