Double shooting was over a tricycle

[Times photos | Chris Zuppa]

TOWN 'N COUNTRY -- A gunman tried to steal an adult tricycle from a 75-year-old man at a bus stop today, then shot the man and a third person who tried to help, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office said.

The suspect fled into a business on Waters Avenue and then surrendered after a 45-minute standoff with deputies.

The condition of the victims is not yet available, but their injuries are not believed to be life threatening, sheriff's spokesman J.D. Callaway said.

Davon Olajuwon Church, 18, got off a HARTline bus about 12:05 p.m. and tried to steal an adult tricycle from 75-year-old Teodoro Ferrer, Callaway said. Another man intervened. Church punched Ferrer, pulled out a handgun and fired at least eight times, Callaway said.

Ferrer was shot in the left leg, and the man who tried to help, David J. Thomas, 42, was shot in the left shin. Both were taken to St. Joseph's Hospital. One or both may require surgery, Callaway said.

Deputies had been called midday to a bus stop at Hanley Road and Waters Avenue. They learned of a man who shot two people, then fled on foot through a wooded area and ran into the Recked Smoke Shop, 8216 W Waters Ave.

Witnesses saw him running down Waters Avenue into the shop just west of Pinehurst Drive. As the suspect ran in, a female employee and two customers came running out, and deputies arrived with guns drawn.

The suspect came out shirtless and appeared to be waving a white cloth.

Church denied firing the shots, Callaway said. He told deputies someone else shot the gun and threw the weapon to him. He told deputies he threw the gun away while running.

Kevin Graham and Abbie VanSickle, Times staff writers