Two homeless men

[Sinergy 3]

David Heath one of the homeless men killed was my moms cousin

we all tried so much to help him, to help him get help, a home, a job, and he refused it all He didnt deserve this

souce: http://www.wtsp.com/news/local/article.aspx?storyid=47551

Two homeless men killed in St. Petersburg

St. Petersburg, Florida - Early on Wednesday morning, St. Pete officers responded to a call of shots fired in an alley near 7th Avenue North and 43rd Street North.

Officers arrived and found 53-year-old David M. Heath dead on the scene from multiple gunshot wounds. Witnesses saw three black male teenagers walking away from the scene. The preliminary investigation indicates Heath is a transient in the area. A next of kin has been notified.

Six hours later, officers responded to a call of a man down in the alley behind 3511 6th Avenue North. Officers arrived and found Jeffrey Schultz dead from multiple gunshot wounds. There was a bicycle near his body.

Schultz also appeared to be a transient who has frequented the area in recent months and there are indications at the scene to suggest he was robbed.

Witneses heard gunshots around 12:30 a.m., but did not call police. Other witnesses observed three black male teenagers walking away from the area after the gunshots.

Although reported later, it appears that this homicide occurred first, with David Heath's murder occurring about 30 minutes later.

The preliminary investigation reveals some similarities in the two cases. Three black male teenagers were seen walking away from both scenes, which are about less than one mile apart, the shootings took place roughly 30 minutes apart, and both victims appear to be transients who were killed in an residential alley.

Tampa Bay's 10 News and St. Petersburg Police

[LaL 418]

im sorry Ionescu.

[Fandango 1,440]

I'm really sorry for your loss....such a horrible tragic senseless loss

[one...two...tree 2,762]

A cowardly act.

[Sinergy 3]

Thanks. We still dont know all the details, we are supossed to be in touch with the detectives sometime today. My uncle (davids dad) is supossed to fly down from ohio today. my aunt his mom just had heart surgery a couple weeks ago and was put back in the hospital lastnight bc of this. We are just all a mess, i came to work to try and keep my mind off things but its not working. It would be one thing if he just died, but this is just too much.

[SoL. 0]

Sorry for your loss

[Sinergy 3]

Supossivly from im getting from the news at this time is the guy who was also shot to death was robbed, but there were no signs of robbery on my cousin, so why? oh i dont think i can stay at work.

[Sinergy 3]

Heres an update story

Police Seek 3 Teens In Shooting Deaths Of 2 Homeless Men

Skip directly to the full story.

By STEPHEN THOMPSONT he Tampa Tribune

Published: Jan 18, 2007

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ST. PETERSBURG - One suffered brain damage years ago in a motorcycle accident, then drifted in and out of drug rehabilitation centers before ending up on the street with barely more than a bicycle to his name, family members said.

The other man had alcohol as his demon. Once known as the scion of a family that owned a bevy of restaurants in the Tampa Bay area, he had recently given a detoxification center as his home address, city police said.

Within an hour Wednesday morning, these two members of St. Petersburg's burgeoning homeless population were found gunned down in alleys within a square-mile area, St. Petersburg police spokesman Bill Proffitt said.

Investigators were scouring the city trying to identify the three teenagers who killed David Heath, 53, and Jeffery Shultz, 43. Witnesses in both deaths recall seeing the trio briskly walking from the locations after hearing shots fired, investigators said.

"The biggest hope we have is these kids talk, their friends report them to police, and we find the gun," Proffitt said.

The motive in Shultz's death appears to be robbery, said Sgt. Mike Kovacsev of the homicide squad. After his body was discovered near his bicycle, investigators noticed his pockets had been turned inside out.

No such clues were apparent in Heath's death.

Heath was found about 12:50 a.m. in an alley in the 4300 block of Seventh Avenue North, Proffitt said. Shultz had been shot 20 minutes earlier, in an alley behind 3515 Sixth Ave. N., but his body wasn't found until 6 a.m., Proffitt said.

The deaths came a few days after the city and the St. Vincent de Paul Society dismantled a so-called tent city that at one point was home to 150 homeless people.

The tent city, about 20 blocks from where Shultz was killed, violated city codes, city officials have said. But the members of the makeshift community thought they were safer there than alone on the streets.

As news of the deaths spread, former residents of the tent city vowed to try to do a better job of keeping an eye on one another. "It's making us stick together a little quicker," said Raymond E. Young, who now lives in a tent on Martin Luther King Jr. Street, under an Interstate 375 overpass.

The Rev. Bruce Wright, an advocate for the homeless who helped put together the tent city, said at least one of the men killed had stayed there before official tallies of its residents were kept. But Proffitt said none of the officers who worked at the tent city recognized either man's mug shots.

Wright said he knew Heath from a program for recovering alcoholics that was operated by one of his ministries. Heath also spent time in a detoxification center known as the Turning Point, police said.

Heath's ex-wife, Lynn-Marie Carty, said he had three children and was once a bat boy for the New York Mets. His family owned Bartke's Restaurant at the Old Tampa Airport, as well as the Careless Navigator on Treasure Island, Carty said.

"David Heath was a loved man, and his life mattered," she said. "We need to find the people who murdered this father, son and friend and prosecute them to the full extent of the law."

Shultz grew up in Cape Coral and wasn't expected to live after his brain injury from the motorcycle accident, said Ervin Bradley, the boyfriend of Shultz's stepmother.

Shultz's injuries were such that his mind never progressed much beyond that of a 14-year-old, Bradley said. "He never got right mentally." He turned to drugs and stints in drug rehabilitation programs, Bradley said.

Shultz returned home for Christmas, Bradley said, and at one point was taking care of an elderly woman in the Bay area. He had little to his name when he was killed.

"That's all he had was that little bike," Bradley said.

News Channel 8 reporter Rod Challenger contributed to this report. Reporter Stephen Thompson can be reached at (727) 823-3303 or spthompson@tampatrib .com.