Largo, Florida



From the St. Petersburg Times of March 27, 2004:



It sounds like the victim isn't going to win any awards for good citizenship.

One suspect in home invasion arrested



Josie Golden has raised 23 children over the years, only eight of them her own. The rest have been nieces and nephews and grandkids.



Many have turned into good people. One is studying pharmacy at Florida A&M right now. Another works at a local nursing home.



But some haven't turned out so well. And one of the worst, Golden said, is Antonio.



He began disobeying her in his early teens. He dropped out of school a year or two later. Then he moved out. Since then, Antonio Golden, now 22, has had 28 criminal charges lodged against him, many of them for drug possession.



On Thursday night, Golden found himself in deeper trouble than ever. Largo police booked him into the Pinellas County Jail on attempted murder and home-invasion robbery charges. And authorities are considering charging him with murder.



Police say Golden was an accomplice of Greg V. Hall, 26, who was shot to death during a robbery attempt early Thursday morning. Hall, Golden and a 17-year-old, Henry Echols, broke into an apartment at 330 Fourth St. SW in search of drugs or money, police said. One of them held a gun.



But whoever was inside heard them breaking in and armed himself. He fired several shots, striking Hall in the head, Golden in the arm and Echols in the lower back. Hall fell dead to the floor.



Golden and Echols ran away and later went to a local hospital, where they were treated and released.



Police say the trio, possibly with a fourth person in tow, also tried to commit a home invasion robbery earlier Thursday morning at the Chaparral Apartments at 601 Rosery Road.



...



The charges filed against Golden on Thursday night were in connection with the Chaparral hold-up. He was being held at the Pinellas County Jail on Friday in lieu of $50,000 bail.



Police did not arrest Echols, but continue to investigate him, said police Chief Lester Aradi.



Authorities are considering whether to charge Golden and Echols with murder in connection with Hall's death. Under Florida law, people involved in robberies in which someone dies, even if it's an accomplice, can be charged with murder.



...



Aradi said detectives are trying to determine whether the shooter should face charges or if he acted in self-defense. He did not identify the shooter.