I hate when that happens. Try this link:
http://www.tampabay.com/news/public...fatal-fray-at-their-tierra-verde-home/1158689
http://www.tampabay.com/news/public...fatal-fray-at-their-tierra-verde-home/1158689
That link worked when I just tried it, but just in case, here's the article:
Couple recount fatal fray at their Tierra Verde home
By Danny Valentine, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Monday, March 21, 2011
TIERRA VERDE Meghan Brown had fired her pink .38-caliber handgun only inside a shooting range. Even there, she said, she wasn't very good.
The 2009 Miss Tierra Verde, 25 and a slender brunet, had trouble pulling back the trigger. When she did manage, she said she almost never hit the target.
That Saturday was different.
A man barged into her home, attacking her and beating her fiance. Adrenaline pumping, she fetched the gun from her bedroom. She trained it on the man, following his movements as he tussled with her fiance.
She saw an opening. She pulled the trigger. Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop.
Albert F. Hill, 42, never got up.
"I'm glad it was me," Brown said. "Not everybody else is that prepared, you know what I mean. Not everybody else is walking around with a loaded .38."
Brown lives with her fiance, 43-year-old Bobby Planthaber, in a 2,732-square-foot Tierra Verde home. Next to the home's front door is a plaque that reads "Phat City." Surveillance cameras cover the home, inside and out.
Through the front door, visitors go up a few steps into the main room. A cockatoo named Bella greets with a "hello."
It's tiled, high-ceilinged. Inside are three flat-screen TVs clustered along a wall, leather furniture, and crystal-clear fish tanks.
Planthaber said he and Brown are arborists. She also rescues birds and animals hence, Bella, two other macaws and a 5-foot iguana named Godzilla.
After the March 12 home invasion and shooting, which the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office said Sunday is still under investigation, neighbors weren't surprised by the location. They say Planthaber threw big parties and had eccentric tastes.
Planthaber chided his neighbors for not showing more concern over an attacker who could have killed him and raped and killed his fiancee.
He said there was good reason for those parties his neighbors had recalled: They were benefits for a seabird foundation.
The knock came about 3 a.m.
It was a friendly rhythm, Brown said bop bodda bop bop, bop, bop.
It wasn't unusual for friends to come by at such a late hour. One of Brown's friends had stopped by a month ago at that time. The couple always offered one of their beds to people who were too drunk to drive home from a nearby bar. Brown said she went to the front door thinking it must be a friend.
"It still didn't dawn on me that there was a guy outside waiting to kill us," she said.
She unlocked the door. She said Hill pushed it open.
Hill, a tattooed, bald, 250-pound man, quickly overpowered her. He grabbed her from behind and wrapped his fingers around her nose and mouth, smothering her and snuffing out her screams.
"It all happened so fast," she said.
She tried to squirm away, but couldn't. He made a beeline for the master bedroom, as if he knew where he was going, Planthaber and Brown said.
Brown continued to flail. Hall moved his hand to her neck. Brown let out a scream.
Out came Planthaber. He went for the man.
"My No. 1 objective is to get this guy off my fiancee," he said.
The two rolled around, breaking the dining room table and chairs. Planthaber said it lasted about two minutes. Hill had a good 80 pounds on him and was winning.
While they were fighting, Brown got her gun from the bottom drawer of her nightstand.
She trained the weapon on the man, but was unable to shoot because Planthaber was too close. She followed his movements.
"I had my gun drawn, focused in on him; as he moved, my gun moved," she said. "I waited for my shot, and when I saw an opening, I fired."
Brown said she is confident she made the right decision.
"The way I see it is, the guy was a really bad guy and if it wasn't my bullets, it probably would have been the police officer's bullets. It's not like he was going to turn his life around."
Planthaber agreed.
"She could have easily ran out that door and went to a neighbor's. She could have gone away. Instead, she kept her calm, grabbed her gun, and did everything the proper way," he said.
State records show Hill had been in and out of prison since 1986 for burglary, grand theft, selling cocaine and other crimes. Hill was last arrested in Pinellas County in February for disorderly intoxication.
Hill's girlfriend, Arielle Hope, said after the shooting that he was changing his life.
"It's a shame everything went down the way it did," Hope said. "Al's future was bright and everything was looking up for him and me and our life together."
The Sheriff's Office has not released the names of the residents involved in the shooting Brown and Planthaber saying that others may have been involved in the home invasion.
Planthaber said that is exactly what happened.
He said a deliveryman who had been to the home was canvassing the place and working with Hill. He said investigators told him that Hill and the man were at the same bar he and Brown were at earlier that Friday night.
He said the attack happened about an hour after he got home long enough to fall asleep.
Deputies said that the home had been targeted, and that neighbors were not at risk.
Planthaber doesn't buy it.
"The neighborhood needs to be aware, this wasn't us being targeted from someone non*local," he said. "There's reason for other people to worry."
Couple recount fatal fray at their Tierra Verde home
By Danny Valentine, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Monday, March 21, 2011
TIERRA VERDE Meghan Brown had fired her pink .38-caliber handgun only inside a shooting range. Even there, she said, she wasn't very good.
The 2009 Miss Tierra Verde, 25 and a slender brunet, had trouble pulling back the trigger. When she did manage, she said she almost never hit the target.
That Saturday was different.
A man barged into her home, attacking her and beating her fiance. Adrenaline pumping, she fetched the gun from her bedroom. She trained it on the man, following his movements as he tussled with her fiance.
She saw an opening. She pulled the trigger. Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop.
Albert F. Hill, 42, never got up.
"I'm glad it was me," Brown said. "Not everybody else is that prepared, you know what I mean. Not everybody else is walking around with a loaded .38."
Brown lives with her fiance, 43-year-old Bobby Planthaber, in a 2,732-square-foot Tierra Verde home. Next to the home's front door is a plaque that reads "Phat City." Surveillance cameras cover the home, inside and out.
Through the front door, visitors go up a few steps into the main room. A cockatoo named Bella greets with a "hello."
It's tiled, high-ceilinged. Inside are three flat-screen TVs clustered along a wall, leather furniture, and crystal-clear fish tanks.
Planthaber said he and Brown are arborists. She also rescues birds and animals hence, Bella, two other macaws and a 5-foot iguana named Godzilla.
After the March 12 home invasion and shooting, which the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office said Sunday is still under investigation, neighbors weren't surprised by the location. They say Planthaber threw big parties and had eccentric tastes.
Planthaber chided his neighbors for not showing more concern over an attacker who could have killed him and raped and killed his fiancee.
He said there was good reason for those parties his neighbors had recalled: They were benefits for a seabird foundation.
The knock came about 3 a.m.
It was a friendly rhythm, Brown said bop bodda bop bop, bop, bop.
It wasn't unusual for friends to come by at such a late hour. One of Brown's friends had stopped by a month ago at that time. The couple always offered one of their beds to people who were too drunk to drive home from a nearby bar. Brown said she went to the front door thinking it must be a friend.
"It still didn't dawn on me that there was a guy outside waiting to kill us," she said.
She unlocked the door. She said Hill pushed it open.
Hill, a tattooed, bald, 250-pound man, quickly overpowered her. He grabbed her from behind and wrapped his fingers around her nose and mouth, smothering her and snuffing out her screams.
"It all happened so fast," she said.
She tried to squirm away, but couldn't. He made a beeline for the master bedroom, as if he knew where he was going, Planthaber and Brown said.
Brown continued to flail. Hall moved his hand to her neck. Brown let out a scream.
Out came Planthaber. He went for the man.
"My No. 1 objective is to get this guy off my fiancee," he said.
The two rolled around, breaking the dining room table and chairs. Planthaber said it lasted about two minutes. Hill had a good 80 pounds on him and was winning.
While they were fighting, Brown got her gun from the bottom drawer of her nightstand.
She trained the weapon on the man, but was unable to shoot because Planthaber was too close. She followed his movements.
"I had my gun drawn, focused in on him; as he moved, my gun moved," she said. "I waited for my shot, and when I saw an opening, I fired."
Brown said she is confident she made the right decision.
"The way I see it is, the guy was a really bad guy and if it wasn't my bullets, it probably would have been the police officer's bullets. It's not like he was going to turn his life around."
Planthaber agreed.
"She could have easily ran out that door and went to a neighbor's. She could have gone away. Instead, she kept her calm, grabbed her gun, and did everything the proper way," he said.
State records show Hill had been in and out of prison since 1986 for burglary, grand theft, selling cocaine and other crimes. Hill was last arrested in Pinellas County in February for disorderly intoxication.
Hill's girlfriend, Arielle Hope, said after the shooting that he was changing his life.
"It's a shame everything went down the way it did," Hope said. "Al's future was bright and everything was looking up for him and me and our life together."
The Sheriff's Office has not released the names of the residents involved in the shooting Brown and Planthaber saying that others may have been involved in the home invasion.
Planthaber said that is exactly what happened.
He said a deliveryman who had been to the home was canvassing the place and working with Hill. He said investigators told him that Hill and the man were at the same bar he and Brown were at earlier that Friday night.
He said the attack happened about an hour after he got home long enough to fall asleep.
Deputies said that the home had been targeted, and that neighbors were not at risk.
Planthaber doesn't buy it.
"The neighborhood needs to be aware, this wasn't us being targeted from someone non*local," he said. "There's reason for other people to worry."
maybe he feels like he has to throw out all things about his wealth to make up for or take attention away from the fact that he got his @$$ kicked and his woman had to save his life. thats what he gets for letting her answering the door at 3am instead of getting his lazy @$$ out of bed and doing it his self. i have only once had someone knock on the door at about 2am and i answered with a pistol in my hand. it was just some kids that had got stuck in the snow drifts down the road from my house and needed a little help.
For reals, but that is how people operate everywhere (though more so. FL, CA). They people need to realize that Assets (property, real estate, liquid cash) are only one part of the balance sheet. Liabilities are the other. Net worth is based on both. I bet these people are in debt up to their eyeballs... but hey, they look soooo posh!
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Well... first off- it's not a crime to wear a $60 K wedding ring. Nor its a crime to brag about your wealth. I was not raised that way ...you probably were not raised that way either. It's in bad taste maybe, but that's just my opinion.
Some of you folks need to spend a week or two in South Florida (or Nichols Hills OK)
After a while you get numb to the $250K cars at stop lights... and the Basic $5 million dollar home behind the iron gates.
Not name dropping... but I set the meter at Pete Rose's house in Boca... turned the lights off (service work) at Alexander Haige's place... ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with Mose Dyan's brother once (we were working at his place... he's a retired banker from Chicago and one heck of a nice guy). We even did some work at Batista's widow's place... and worked a few houses down from the Kennedy Compound. Then we met some really rich people you probably never heard off.
Did you all know that Bob Newhart drives his own Rolls Royce? Set in a Delray Beach intersection waiting on the light with him more than once.
South Florida has unbridled wealth... and dismal crime and economic depridation , blocks from each other.
Some of you folks need to spend a week or two in South Florida (or Nichols Hills OK)
After a while you get numb to the $250K cars at stop lights... and the Basic $5 million dollar home behind the iron gates.
Not name dropping... but I set the meter at Pete Rose's house in Boca... turned the lights off (service work) at Alexander Haige's place... ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with Mose Dyan's brother once (we were working at his place... he's a retired banker from Chicago and one heck of a nice guy). We even did some work at Batista's widow's place... and worked a few houses down from the Kennedy Compound. Then we met some really rich people you probably never heard off.
Did you all know that Bob Newhart drives his own Rolls Royce? Set in a Delray Beach intersection waiting on the light with him more than once.
South Florida has unbridled wealth... and dismal crime and economic depridation , blocks from each other.
BTW... there are more than a few guys in the tire shop racket ( like Chuck Curcio, the Tire King) lawn care owners and tree trimmers down that way who could buy and sell most lawyers and doctors we know 3 times over.
Extreme wealth and extreme poverty often go hand in hand. The wealth didn't just pile up all by itself.
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