http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/5308809.htm
Miramar shooter wants to visit teen
BY WANDA J. DeMARZO
[email protected]
Alejandro Avila, the man who shot a 13-year-old in the head with a shotgun as the boy tried to steal Avila's car, said Monday he is ''overcome with sorrow,''and wants to pay the hospitalized youth a visit.The teen, Anthony Campbell, remains in a coma at Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood.
''Anthony's family and my family have been suffering since that night,'' said Avila, 27, of Miramar. ``I had no idea who was in the car when I shot.'' Avila, flanked by two attorneys, said he's praying for Campbell and regrets hisactions at his home the night of Feb. 22.
''Hindsight is perfect,'' said his attorney Sam Burstyn. ``It was a reaction based on fear. The car windows were tinted, and the car was coming right at him.'' Tina Jones, the teen's mother, disputes Avila's account and wants nothing to do with him.
''I have nothing to say to that man,'' she said angrily. ``I don't ever want topeak to him or see him, except in a courtroom. He deliberately shot my son, while Anthony was trying to get away.''
The incident began at 8:40 p.m. Feb. 22, in the 6600 block of Coconut Drive. Avila said he looked out at his driveway and
saw glowing brake lights on his 1993 gold Saturn.
The uninsured car had been stolen six days earlier. In that case, home and quickly recovered it, but not before the unidentified driver bailed out. This time, Avila yelled to his girlfriend to call police, grabbed a 12-gauge shotgun and ran outside to confront the thief.
He told detectives he stood at the end of his driveway and yelled at the driver to stop. He said the driver accelerated,
racing toward him.
He jumped backward and fired several shots. It ''all happened so quick,'' said Avila, who works in customer service at an
auto parts store.
The shotgun blasts hit the front passenger window and the left side of the back window, witnesses said.
Dozens of pellets entered Campbell's head. Several still are lodged in his brain, his mother said.
''My first action was to protect myself,'' Avila said. ``I didn't know who was in that car, it could have been four armed
men for all I knew.''
The Jones family challenges Avila's story.
''I believe that Anthony was the one in danger, not that man,'' said Campbell's aunt, Doris Jones of Orlando, who has
been visiting the family. ``I understand his anger. His car had been stolen just a week before, but why didn't he just
stay inside his home and call police?''
Avila would not say why he ran outside to confront the car thief, only that he feared for his life and that of his girlfriend.
At Monday's press conference, Burstyn, Avila's attorney, answered that his client ``was in fear of what might happen.''
''We are not going to get into that at this time,'' Burstyn said.
Miramar police are continuing to investigate, and will turn over their findings to the state attorney's office, spokesman Bill
Robertson said.
The state attorney's office will determine if charges are warranted.
Campbell's family said the Perry Middle School seventh-grader was going through adolescent problems, ''acting out'' and
hanging out with older neighborhood kids who provided a negative influence.ill, Tina Jones said, Avila was not justified in shooting her son in the back of the head.
''I would never, ever paint a picture that showed Anthony as a perfect kid,'' Doris Jones said.
``He did something very wrong, but what price should he pay for his actions? I pray they never have to walk in our
shoes.''
Miramar shooter wants to visit teen
BY WANDA J. DeMARZO
[email protected]
Alejandro Avila, the man who shot a 13-year-old in the head with a shotgun as the boy tried to steal Avila's car, said Monday he is ''overcome with sorrow,''and wants to pay the hospitalized youth a visit.The teen, Anthony Campbell, remains in a coma at Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood.
''Anthony's family and my family have been suffering since that night,'' said Avila, 27, of Miramar. ``I had no idea who was in the car when I shot.'' Avila, flanked by two attorneys, said he's praying for Campbell and regrets hisactions at his home the night of Feb. 22.
''Hindsight is perfect,'' said his attorney Sam Burstyn. ``It was a reaction based on fear. The car windows were tinted, and the car was coming right at him.'' Tina Jones, the teen's mother, disputes Avila's account and wants nothing to do with him.
''I have nothing to say to that man,'' she said angrily. ``I don't ever want topeak to him or see him, except in a courtroom. He deliberately shot my son, while Anthony was trying to get away.''
The incident began at 8:40 p.m. Feb. 22, in the 6600 block of Coconut Drive. Avila said he looked out at his driveway and
saw glowing brake lights on his 1993 gold Saturn.
The uninsured car had been stolen six days earlier. In that case, home and quickly recovered it, but not before the unidentified driver bailed out. This time, Avila yelled to his girlfriend to call police, grabbed a 12-gauge shotgun and ran outside to confront the thief.
He told detectives he stood at the end of his driveway and yelled at the driver to stop. He said the driver accelerated,
racing toward him.
He jumped backward and fired several shots. It ''all happened so quick,'' said Avila, who works in customer service at an
auto parts store.
The shotgun blasts hit the front passenger window and the left side of the back window, witnesses said.
Dozens of pellets entered Campbell's head. Several still are lodged in his brain, his mother said.
''My first action was to protect myself,'' Avila said. ``I didn't know who was in that car, it could have been four armed
men for all I knew.''
The Jones family challenges Avila's story.
''I believe that Anthony was the one in danger, not that man,'' said Campbell's aunt, Doris Jones of Orlando, who has
been visiting the family. ``I understand his anger. His car had been stolen just a week before, but why didn't he just
stay inside his home and call police?''
Avila would not say why he ran outside to confront the car thief, only that he feared for his life and that of his girlfriend.
At Monday's press conference, Burstyn, Avila's attorney, answered that his client ``was in fear of what might happen.''
''We are not going to get into that at this time,'' Burstyn said.
Miramar police are continuing to investigate, and will turn over their findings to the state attorney's office, spokesman Bill
Robertson said.
The state attorney's office will determine if charges are warranted.
Campbell's family said the Perry Middle School seventh-grader was going through adolescent problems, ''acting out'' and
hanging out with older neighborhood kids who provided a negative influence.ill, Tina Jones said, Avila was not justified in shooting her son in the back of the head.
''I would never, ever paint a picture that showed Anthony as a perfect kid,'' Doris Jones said.
``He did something very wrong, but what price should he pay for his actions? I pray they never have to walk in our
shoes.''
