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St. Petersburg police investigating three unrelated murders

 
Published Oct. 13, 2014

ST. PETERSBURG — Three separate fatal shootings in two days had investigators chasing leads Sunday in what was an exceptionally deadly weekend.

The shootings that left three people dead — including a 17-year-old high school student — appear to be unrelated, a St. Petersburg police spokeswoman said.

"It is unusual to have three unrelated shootings like this in one weekend," St. Petersburg police spokeswoman Yolanda Fernandez said Sunday afternoon.

Detectives were actively investigating all three shootings, but few updates were available Sunday.

The weekend's third victim was identified late Saturday night as 22-year-old Brandon Alexis Toribio, who was staying with relatives in St. Petersburg. Toribio was found by officers about 6:45 p.m. Saturday in the front yard of a home at 3401 40th St. N. The address where he was found is not related to the shooting, authorities said. Toribio's vehicle was found parked several blocks away.

Early Saturday morning, about 2:40 a.m., the weekend's second and youngest victim, 17-year-old Donnie Avery, was found lying on the Pinellas Trail overpass that spans 34th Street S near Gibbs High School, bleeding from a gunshot wound to his upper body. He was taken to Bayfront Health St. Petersburg and was pronounced dead.

Avery was a student at Lakewood High and helped out at the Chattaway, the iconic hamburger joint on 22nd Avenue S. He was the youngest of five siblings, a family member said, and lived with his mother, Winona Kitto, about 2 miles from where his body was found.

The teen had been in trouble before and struggled in school, but family members said he was artistic, empathetic and wanted to be a police officer.

Updates on his murder investigation were not available Sunday.

Late Friday, 36-year-old Francis "Frankie" McDermott was found dead in his silver Dodge pickup truck, which was stopped in the middle of the street on the 4500 block of Eighth Avenue S. He'd been shot in the upper body.

Family members told the Times that McDermott was a commercial fisherman and had left only hours before his death for an overnight fishing trip.

Police have not yet said whether there are any developments in that investigation.

St. Petersburg averages 15 homicides a year. This past weekend's killings take the 2014 total to 13.

Contact Katie Mettler at kmettler@tampabay.com or (727) 893-8913. Follow @kemettler.