Fatal Shooting In St. Pete Prompts Plea For Tips

By ELAINE SILVESTRINIand YOLANDA FERNANDEZ The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 29, 2007

Kurt Anthony Bryant got out of his limousine early Sunday morning to let some people out on a street corner in St. Petersburg when a man approached the 35-year-old entrepreneur from across the street near the 1000 block of 13th Avenue South.

The unidentified man fired a shot, said Bryant's friend, Ron King. "I saw the flash," King said. "I pulled Kurt inside the car." King said he tried to get out, to put himself between his friend and the shooter, when Bryant called out.

He said, "Ron, I'm hit!" King said. "I'm hit! I'm hit!"

The shooter "was getting ready to run," King said. When his friend cried out, he said, he forgot about the gunman and went to his friend's side. "I looked down and saw a red spot on his shirt," King said. "I pulled the shirt up and saw a hole. I put my finger over the hole."

King said he told the limo driver to go to the hospital.

On the way there, "it was like, he didn't show any panic or anything," King said of Bryant. "I think his body went into shock. … He went from wide awake to sleep in two minutes. He just faded out like somebody putting a candle out."

King said he held pressure on the wound until they got to Bayfront Medical Center. "I was trying to do everything I could to keep him alive."

Nothing could be done. His friend was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Residents Urged To Do Right Thing

Friends and family urged the community to help police track down the killer. One friend said residents need to get over their aversion to cooperating with law enforcement and do the right thing. Bryant, those who knew him said, was a caring, decent businessman who would do anything to help people.

"He's more than my brother; he's like me," said King, 36, who had come down from Gainesville to visit Bryant. "I feel like I lost myself."

Family members said Bryant owned a small limousine company with three vehicles. He was getting ready to buy a fourth. Saturday night, he was just relaxing, having fun with some friends.

The slaying also had another friend shaken.

"This death won't go unavenged," said Darryl Rouson, a community activist and lawyer who said it's time something is done to end the violence that has people afraid of standing in their own front yards. "I will use every lawful means and process to make sure that it does not go unavenged."

Rouson said he was on the air at radio station WMNF, 88.5 FM, on Sunday morning talking about the problem in the community where "snitching" is discouraged.

"Anybody who knows anything about what happened ought to be singing, and those cats ought to be brought to justice," Rouson said. "I'm sick of our community tolerating the dumb stuff. … I'm going to do something about it."

'Somebody Knows Who Did It'

Bryant's wife, Cynthia, also urged people to help the police catch the killer. "Somebody knows who did it," she said. "They saw him, so we just pray he gets caught. … He took away my best friend."

King described the gunman as 16 to 25 years old, dark-skinned, black, between 5 feet 10 inches to 6 feet tall, weighing 170 to 200 pounds and with short hair. People in the area referred to him as Mark or Marcus and said he was from Clearwater, King said. King said he's not sure what the gunman was wearing, but it could have been jeans and a black shirt.

Rouson said Bryant "was a wonderful guy, fun-loving, spiritual, would give you the shirt off his back, would give a kid the last $5 in his pocket if the kid needed it."

King was distraught and barely able to talk Monday afternoon before he composed himself and described the shooting.

"He killed my brother for nothing," King said. "He didn't harm anybody. He would do anything to help anybody. … We were just riding around. I wanted him to have some fun. I didn't want him to die."

"This is not a problem the police have to solve," Rouson said. "This is a problem the community is going to have to rally around and step up and do something about."

Rouson said he missed Bryant's wedding four years ago because he was out attempting to thwart violence by buying guns on the streets so they wouldn't be used in crimes. "I was so sick and tired of the senseless violence and killing," he said.

"It's just crazy," Rouson said. "People tell me this goes on every other night. … It's shameful."

Reporter Elaine Silvestrini can be reached at (813) 259-7837 or esilvestrini@tampatrib.com.