Two men have been arrested and accused in a drive-by shooting in St. Pete Beach.
- Bailey Jenkins, Thomas Loudin facing aggravated battery charges
- Police investigate Treasure Island shooting (Oct. 28)
- One man injured in drive-by shooting on St. Pete Beach (Oct. 28)
Pinellas County Sheriff's Detectives had been looking for the gunmen since Saturday and said both of the men admitted to drinking alcohol and then going on a random shooting spree during the weekend in Treasure Island.
The men, Bailey Jenkins and Thomas Loudin, both 18, are facing aggravated battery charges. Loudin also is facing a charge of throwing a deadly missile into a vehicle.
Deputies said the men were responsible for shooting 51-year-old Kurt Alan Lang Saturday at 12:16 a.m. with a high-powered pellet gun. Lang said he was walking with a family member along Gulf Boulevard near the Beachcomber Resort when heard what sounded like a firecracker.
He then felt pain and grabbed his chest.
He was transported to Bay Front Medical Center and had to undergo emergency surgery for a wound to his abdomen. Investigators said his injury appeared to be consistent with a small caliber round.
Uber driver Alfreda Grinder shows where the pellet from the high-powered pellet gun impacted her car's backseat passenger window. (Josh Rojas, staff)
That same evening, deputies also spoke with an Uber driver, Alfreda Grinder, who had been shot at by a passing vehicle. That shooting blew out her backseat passenger window.
“All of a sudden we heard this loud noise in my left ear," Grinder told us. "It hit my left ear, the noise was so tremendous.”
Grinder and her passenger were not injured. She told us she felt fortunate that she wasn't shot in the neck, because had the pellet entered the driver's side window, that's likely would have happened.
"God was with me," she said. "That is why I carry this bible with me. It's like a form of protection."
Lang, the man who was shot in the chest, has declined all requests for interviews.
The incident happened at about 11:52 p.m. in the 10000 block of Gulf Boulevard. A surveillance camera at the Treasure Island scene captured footage of the suspect’s vehicle.
Investigators were able to put the incidents together and taken both men into custody a few days later without incident.
Jenkins and Loudin made their first appearances before a Pinellas judge on Oct. 31. That judge reduced Loudin's bond to $2,000 for the charge of shooting a deadly missle into an occupied vehicle.
However, the judge upheld the $10,000 bond on both suspects for the aggravated battery charges.
"I'm happy the bond got reduced," said Roger Futerman, Loudin's attorney. "He’s certainly not a flight risk in anyway. He’s a young 18-year-old, just turned 18 and no prior criminal history whatsoever.”
Authorities said the investigation is ongoing and there could be additional charges.