Dispute before shooting near Armature Works started with thrown water, documents say
A dispute that led to a shooting near Armature Works last week that injured three bystanders started when the younger brother of a suspect in the case threw water on another person in a bathroom, according to newly released court documents.
Tampa police arrested Jaimartez A. Young, 19, on Friday on charges including attempted first-degree murder with a firearm. An arrest affidavit and a motion filed by Hillsborough prosecutors seeking to keep Young in jail pending trial, both of which were made public this week, outline what investigators say happened before the shooting.
Shortly after 4 p.m. on Tuesday, police responded to reports of shots fired outside Stones Throw restaurant, which is at 304 W. Seventh Ave., just south of Armature Works. When officers arrived, they found three people wounded by gunfire: a 47-year-old woman who was shot in the arm; a 28-year-old woman shot in the ankle and a 36-year-old woman who was grazed by a bullet.
Police have previously said the shooting happened when a dispute between two groups of teens escalated and a member of each group exchanged gunfire. One of the teens involved in the dispute was shot in the leg and “self-transported” to a local hospital.
A Tampa police spokesperson confirmed to the Tampa Bay Times that the person who was shot is Young’s 13-year-old brother. The Times is not naming Young’s brother because of his age and because he has not been charged with a crime.
In addition to Young, police last week also arrested Gabriel C. Catuy, 17, who investigators say was one of two people who exchanged gunfire that day.
According to Young’s arrest affidavit and the detention motion, a witness told police that the dispute started in a bathroom at Armature Works when Young’s 13-year-old brother threw water on another person, who is identified in the motion only as “the victim.”
The Hillsborough Clerk of Court’s Office redacted the name of the victim in a copy of the arrest affidavit provided to the Times because the person is a juvenile, a spokesperson said. A Tampa police spokesperson confirmed that person is Catuy.
Catuy “confronted” Young’s brother about the thrown water, the motion states. There also may have been a physical altercation at that time, according to the affidavit.
A witness told police that Young’s brother told Catuy that he was going to get his brother, later identified as Young, and return to retaliate. Surveillance footage obtained by police shows the younger brother leaving the area and walking east past the Ulele restaurant.
Soon after, video shows Young and his brother walking together toward the west side of the Stones Throw restaurant. Young had a gun at the time, documents state. The brothers then walk through a breezeway, and Young can be seen firing multiple rounds at Catuy and other people with him. Catuy and his associates can be seen ducking.
Video shows Catuy being handed a firearm with an extended magazine and opening fire on Young and his brother. Young and his brother then run back to the breezeway, where Young turns and fires more rounds, the motion states.
Video shows Catuy shooting back at Young from an outdoor dining area on the south side of Stones Throw.
A school resource officer at Jefferson High School, where Young last attended school, watched the video and identified Young, the motion states.
Young was arrested Friday on charges of attempted first-degree murder with a firearm, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and discharging a firearm in public. He was being held without bond this week. A hearing on the motion for pretrial detention is set for Friday.
Prosecutors argue in the motion that there is “a substantial probability” he committed the crime and no conditions of bail “will reasonably protect the community from risk of physical harm, ensure the presence of the defendant at trial, or assure the integrity of the judicial process.”
Escobar told the Times that he will be asking to continue the pretrial detention hearing to give his office more time to investigate.
“We feel confident that some of these facts (in the motion and affidavit) are going to be contested and refuted through evidence,” Escobar said.
He declined to elaborate before the motion hearing but said that Young’s brother was attacked before the shooting and then injured by gunfire.
Catuy was arrested the day after the shooting on charges of attempted second-degree murder with a firearm and being a felon in possession of a firearm. Hillsborough State Attorney Suzy Lopez said last week that Catuy will be prosecuted as an adult in the case. As of Tuesday, Catuy’s case did not appear on the clerk of court’s website.
A spokesperson for Lopez’s office said Catuy was being held Monday in the Hillsborough Juvenile Detention Center on a 21-day hold and will be transferred to adult court before that hold ends.
