By Emily Nipps and Rebecca Catalanello, Times Staff Writers
Monday, September 27, 2010
ST. PETERSBURG — Extra police officers were patrolling the Gibbs High School campus Monday after learning that a fatal shooting over the weekend may cause some kind of backlash at the school.
The added police presence is just a precaution, said St. Petersburg Police spokesman Mike Puetz, who said he did not know of a direct threat made to the school. Nor have police determined if there is a connection between the situation at Gibbs and the Saturday night shooting that left an 18-year-old girl dead.
Gibbs principal Kevin Gordon said a couple of students posted something on Facebook Sunday night indicating that "something big was going to happen" at the school on Monday.
Gordon said he immediately contacted the students' families to investigate the perceived threat, but that the students were unable to substantiate it as anything but rumor.
"I think kids just start rumors," he said.
St. Petersburg detectives are still investigating the shooting death of 18-year-old Latedra Everett, who was shot around 10:30 p.m. Saturday in the 600 block of 26th Avenue S. She later died at Bayfront Medical Center. Jacquez Wallace, 21, who lives at the home where the shooting occurred, also was shot, but his injuries were not life-threatening.
Police said Everett had just arrived at 638 26th Ave. S for a brief visit and was getting out of a friend's car when the shots were fired from a distance several houses away. She was stuck in the head and collapsed in the street in front of the home, as did Wallace, who was standing near the car and was struck in the torso.
Everett was a senior at Boca Ciega High, according to Pinellas County School District spokeswoman Andrea Zahn. School counselors and members of the district's crisis team were available at Boca Ciega on Monday to assist staff and students with their grief.
Gordon said it is standard procedure whenever there's a security concern to contact police about adding extra officers at the school. Despite the concern, the day has gone smoothly, Gordon said. He said that students have not checked out of school at a higher rate than usual.
"We're always going to make sure our kids are safe," he said.
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