Mediaboss Marketing

By Ken Jackson

Staff Writer

A case of mistaken identity led to the shooting death Saturday of an Orlando man on Interstate 4 by a St. Cloud resident, Hillsborough County Sheriffs officials have said.

Jerome Edward Hayes, 48, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder with a firearm after turning himself in Monday to authorities in Tampa in reference to the incident on Saturday that left Fred Turner, 47, dead on the side of the road near the Interstate 75 interchange.

Hayes is alleged to have followed Turner out of the parking lot of a Tampa adult video store, thinking the victim was someone he was involved in an altercation with at a neighboring strip club earlier that day.

In the investigation, detectives determined that Turner had left Tres Equis at 6222 Adamo Drive, around the same time that two males were thrown out of the Tampa Gold Club, which shares a parking lot with Tres Equis. The two males were observed getting in a grey Ford Taurus, and one retrieved an unknown object from the trunk prior to pulling out of the parking lot, according to the report.

At approximately 3 p.m. Saturday, Tampa dispatchers received a 911 call from Turner, driving a green Ford Mustang, who advised that a grey Ford Taurus had been following him since leaving the parking lot, and that he was on North 50th Street approaching Interstate 4 to head eastbound.

The call was transferred to Florida Highway Patrol dispatch, to whom Turner advised that the Taurus was less than a car length behind him on the eastbound interstate. Turner then advised the Taurus pulled alongside his Mustang. A short time later, the 911 dispatcher reportedly heard a string of unknown noises that detectives believe were gunshots striking the Mustang.

After the noises, the dispatcher did not hear Turner again speak or respond. FHP troopers dispatched found Turner dead on the left shoulder of I-4 near I-75, some seven miles from the Adamo Drive parking lot.

Excerpt from:
St. Cloud man arrested in weekend I-4 homicide