|
Gun trader Hank Earl Carr had a foot in prison.
He hated prison. It reminded him of beatings and made him feel powerless.
But that day, May 19, 1998, blood spilled in a garage apartment on Crenshaw Street in Tampa. Carr shot and killed 4-year-old Joey Bennett, his girlfriend's baby boy, and told everyone it was an accident.
The bleeding didn't stop until five were dead, including Carr.
``Good day to die. Sunny day,'' he called it.
At first, he blamed Joey. Detectives doubted him, with reason. That day, he lied about his own name, assuming the identity of girlfriend Bernice Bowen's ex-husband, Joseph Lee Bennett, father to Joey and 5-year-old Kayla.
The day ended with suicide in Hernando County, but not before Carr executed two veteran Tampa detectives - Randy Bell and Ricky Childers - and a fresh- faced state trooper named James Bradford Crooks.
Fate delivered them to a man who hated cops, a felon who carried a handcuff key, plotting escape before he was even caught.
Prosecutors plan to put the girlfriend on trial next week. They allege she helped Carr elude police by misleading them about his identity.
Today, the Tribune retells a rampage, in the words of those who lived it, extracted from the files of prosecutors and police and from the memories of widows.
|
