Clearwater teen shot girl in the head, police say

SAFETY HARBOR - Deputies arrested early this morning a Clearwater 16-year-old on charges that he shot a female acquaintance in the head while she was driving.

Alexander Page, who lives at 1612 Country Lane West, faces one count of attempted homicide and was being taken to Pinellas Juvenile Assessment Center this morning.

According to authorities, five teenagers were in a 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee driven by Deaonna Tarver, 17, of Clearwater. Page was in the back seat. At about 5:30 p.m., as Tarver was headed to Oldsmar, she and Page began arguing.

Tarver turned east onto State Road 580 from North Bay Hills Boulevard when Page shot her once in the head at point blank range, deputies said. The Jeep, which had been moving slowly at the time, was brought to a stop by another passenger.

Page ran from the vehicle while the other teens in the Jeep drove Tarver to to Mease-Countryside Hospital, deputies said. She was later transferred to Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg with a life-threatening injury.

Detectives found Page about about 1:30 a.m. today at a home at 5020 69th Avenue North in Pinellas Park.  They also found the .22-caliber handgun used in the attack, which had been hidden in a backyard shed at a residence in Safety Harbor.

Investigators say Page said he fired the gun inside the Jeep, but offered varying accounts of how the shooting took place.

-- Jacob H. Fries, Times staff writer